The US on Wednesday announced sanctions against Russia’s biggest oil producers, its first major package of financial measures against Moscow as President Donald Trump met the head of Nato in Washington.
The sanctions are against blacklisted state-run oil giant Rosneft and Lukoil due to “Russia’s lack of serious commitment to a peace process to end the war in Ukraine”, the Treasury Department said.
The sanctions mark an about-turn for Mr Trump, who has turned his focus towards ending the Ukraine war now that the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has gone into effect. He had held off on major sanctions and announced last week he would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in the coming weeks.
But Mr Trump has indicated a change of heart, saying he did not want a wasted meeting.
“I just felt it was time,” Mr Trump said in a meeting with Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office. He said he hoped “they won’t be on for long” and he hoped the war would be settled.
“The only thing I can say is, every time I speak with Vladimir, I have good conversations, and then they just don’t go anywhere,” Mr Trump said.
Mr Rutte praised Mr Trump for the ceasefire in Gaza and said the “next big thing” was ending the war in Ukraine.
He added that Nato wanted to help deliver on Mr Trump's vision for peace in Ukraine.
The sanctions were “all about changing the calculus”, Mr Rutte said, putting pressure on Russia to come to the table.
Before Wednesday, Mr Trump had repeatedly backed away from threats of tariffs, sanctions and other punishments against Russia. On July 29, he gave Russia 10 days to reach a truce with Ukraine, but the August 8 deadline came and went without further action by the US leader. He then met Mr Putin in Alaska but the meeting produced no progress on the war.
Given Mr Trump’s own focus on keeping petrol prices low, it marks a major gamble and signals his patience with Mr Putin may finally be running out.
Former president Joe Biden's administration imposed wave after wave of sanctions against Russia after its invasion in 2022, damaging its economy but never deterring Mr Putin from pressing ahead.
Ukraine welcomed the move.
“For the first time during the tenure of the 47th President of the United States, Washington has decided to impose full blocking sanctions against Russian energy companies,” Ambassador Olga Stefanishyna said. Ukraine believes “peace is only possible through strength and by exerting pressure on the aggressor using all available international instruments”, she added.
The sanctions and the meeting with Mr Rutte came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the White House last week, in an unsuccessful bid to secure Tomahawk missiles for Ukraine's war effort.
Mr Trump said on Wednesday that it would take the Ukrainians at least six months to learn how to use them, indicating he planned to get the war ended before that time.
The Wall Street Journal reported the US had lifted a restriction on Ukraine's use of some long-range missiles provided by western allies, which would allow Ukraine to increase attacks on targets inside Russia. In a social media post, Mr Trump denied the report.
Mr Zelenskyy argued on Tuesday that the Tomahawks “may hold the indispensable key to peace”, saying that the US refusal to allow Kyiv deep-strike capabilities reduced Russia's interest in a diplomatic end to the conflict.
