Donald Trump has imposed sanctions on Russia’s two largest petroleum firms after concluding that the Russian leader had not been truthful and direct in negotiations over Ukraine, America’s Treasury Secretary has said.
These restrictions against Rosneft and Lukoil followed just one day after a planned Trump-Putin summit in Budapest was shelved, with Washington expressing its disappointment at the absence of advances in peace talks with Russia.
“Due to Putin’s unwillingness to stop this needless conflict, [the] treasury is imposing sanctions on the two biggest Russian petroleum firms that finance Russia’s military operations,” America’s Treasury chief, the Secretary, announced this week.
He cautioned that the Treasury Department was ready “to take further action should it be needed” to back the President’s initiatives to conclude the conflict.
Speaking to Fox Business before the official announcement, the Treasury Secretary said the move was “one of the largest sanctions that we have imposed on Russia”.
Trump has held off on new sanctions for months, saying he aimed to convince Putin to make peace despite growing frustration with him. But Trump’s tolerance apparently ran out in the week since he spoke to Putin over the phone last Thursday.
The European Union similarly declared additional restrictions on the Russian government on Wednesday. These involve a ban on importing LNG from the country by 2027, the blacklisting of petroleum vessels used by Moscow and travel restrictions on Russia’s diplomatic personnel.
