President Donald Trump said Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin would “immediately” release hundreds of thousands of tons of diesel fuel onto the global market.
Trump made the announcement on Truth Social and said the action would will help bring diesel prices down.
Since its illegal invasion of Ukraine, wide-ranging sanctions have been applied to Russia. In order to get the diesel fuel moved, the Treasury Department simultaneously announced Friday that it would be easing sanctions on Russia through April 7.
“Today, at President Trump’s direction, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is immediately issuing a temporary general license to allow the supply of Russian diesel to the global market,” the Treasury Department said on X.
A document posted to the Treasury’s website said that “the sale, delivery, offloading, or importation, including importation into the United States, of diesel fuel of Russian Federation origin are authorized through 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time, April 7, 2027.
In a separate statement, Putin said that he had informed Trump of Russia’s “readiness to supply oil and petroleum products to the US and global markets.” Putin did not offer any specifics, however, such as when a potential release would begin or how much fuel it would entail.
Since the start of the Iran war in February, the price of diesel fuel has soared almost 70%, and economists have warned that the price hikes will have wide-ranging inflationary effects on the global economy.
In recent weeks, sharp escalations in the Russia-Ukraine war have caused diesel to spike even further, and for multiple weeks the price of diesel set repeated all-time records.
After multiple Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy assets earlier this year, the Kremlin in July imposed a diesel fuel export ban. It has since been extended through the end of October.
Russian deputy prime minister Alexander Novak told state news agency TASS that his country would immediately begin lifting its export ban as a result of the Trump-Putin agreement.
Trump has publicly pleaded with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to stop bombing Russia’s diesel refinery plants.
“The problem I have with Ukraine and Russia is that, you know, a lot of the diesel comes … from Russia, and the Russia plants are being hit by Ukraine,” Trump told reporters recently. “And I’ve asked President Zelenskyy not to hit the diesel plants.”
“That’s what’s driving it up,” Trump said, referring to the cost of diesel. Ukraine, he added, has “Got to stop.”
On Sept. 14, Trump claimed that Zelenskyy and Putin had agreed to stop targeting energy infrastructure.
Zelenskyy, however, denied that he had agreed to stop targeting Russian energy assets, telling CBS News he would only stop striking oil and gas targets if Russia agreed to the same terms.
But the Kremlin has increased its targeting of Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure this summer and fall.
Just hours before Trump’s announcement Friday, Zelenskyy welcomed a delegation of U.S. senators to the presidential palace in Kyiv.
“We can only protect ourselves from this terror by working together, and we discussed how the United States can help save lives,” Zelenskyy said on social media.
“This is a matter of political will, and it is now important to show leadership and fully cut off the financial flows sustaining Russia’s war machine.”
Zelenskyy described Trump’s move to ease sanctions on diesel Friday as “an obvious weakness.”
“It plays into Russia’s hands — allowing it to kill more, wage war for longer, have even less respect for America, and inflict even greater losses and damage on the world,” he said.
This is not the first time Trump has tried to use U.S. sanctions relief for Russia to help slow rising oil prices. The Treasury Department issued a series of 30-day sanctions waivers for Russian oil on the water this spring.
But they expired and largely did not impact the trajectory of oil and gas prices, which have continued rising for months.
Diesel futures fell 4% Friday in the wake of Trump’s announcement, but they remain higher by more than 110% since the start of this year.
Likewise, the price of crude oil barely budged. Brent crude oil traded around $104 per barrel Friday, down just 0.3% on the day.
Trump’s announcement also came just as Ukrainian negotiators departed for the U.S., for a new round of talks aimed at bringing an end to the war with Russia.
Special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner had been expected to lead the discussions. It was unclear late Friday whether they would continue as planned in light of the latest sanctions waiver.
