The US Treasury Department on Wednesday announced sanctions targeting Russian oil companies and demanded that Moscow end its war in Ukraine, marking the first US sanctions targeting Moscow over the conflict of this Trump administration.
The sanctions targeted Russia’s two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, and their subsidiaries, but the measures will likely have little impact on Moscow’s decision-making related to the war, as its oil industry has been under heavy Western sanctions for years.
In a statement on the sanctions, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent threatened further sanctions. “Now is the time to stop the killing and for an immediate ceasefire,” he said.
“Given President Putin’s refusal to end this senseless war, Treasury is sanctioning Russia’s two largest oil companies that fund the Kremlin’s war machine. Treasury is prepared to take further action if necessary to support President Trump’s effort to end yet another war. We encourage our allies to join us in and adhere to these sanctions,” Bessent added.
President Trump described the sanctions as “tremendous” and said he hoped they wouldn’t be on for long. “We hope that the war will be settled,” he said, according to the White House.
The sanctions come after the US called off a summit between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin that was expected to happen in Budapest, Hungary, within the next two weeks. A US official told NBC News that the new sanctions were related to the meeting falling through, which appears to have happened because Russia hasn’t changed its stance on its conditions to end the war.
On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov pushed back against the calls in the US for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, reaffirming Moscow’s position that it wants a peace deal before a truce. President Trump has reportedly told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to accept Russia’s terms for an agreement, which includes Ukraine ceding the Donbas, but there’s no sign he’s putting real pressure on the Ukrainian leader to do so.
