The US has announced new sanctions targeting Russia’s two largest oil companies – Rosneft and Lukoil – in an effort to pressure Moscow to negotiate a peace deal in Ukraine.
“Every time I speak to Vladimir, I have good conversations and then they don’t go anywhere. They just don’t go anywhere,” President Donald Trump said, after a meeting with Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte to discuss peace negotiations.
The sanctions announcement came one day after Trump said a meeting planned with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest would be shelved indefinitely.
Earlier Wednesday, Russia unleashed an intense bombardment on Ukraine that killed at least seven people, including children.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the new sanctions were needed due to “Putin’s refusal to end this senseless war”. He said these oil companies fund the Kremlin’s “war machine”.
“Now is the time to stop the killing and for an immediate ceasefire,” Bessent said in a statement.
Speaking alongside Rutte in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump criticised Putin for not being serious about making peace and said he hoped that the sanctions would help force a breakthrough.
“I just felt it was time. We waited a long time,” Trump said.
He called the sanctions package “tremendous”, and added that he hoped they could be swiftly withdrawn if Russia agrees to stop the war.
Rutte also praised the move, saying it was “putting more pressure” on Putin.
“You have to put pressure, and that is just what he did today,” Rutte said.
The move comes as key differences between US and Russian proposals for peace became increasingly clear this week. Trump has indicated that a key sticking point has been Moscow’s refusal to cease fighting along the current front line.
Last week, the UK slapped a similar sanctions package on Rosneft and Lukoil.
“There is no place for Russian oil on global markets,” UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves said while announcing the move.
Responding to the UK, Russia’s embassy in London said targeting its country’s major energy companies would disrupt global fuel supplies and drive up costs worldwide.
It also said the sanctions would have “a detrimental impact on the energy security” of developing and underdeveloped countries, adding “pressure only complicates peaceful dialogue and leads to further escalation”.
The two Russian oil firms export 3.1 million barrels of oil per day. Rosneft is responsible for nearly half of all Russian oil production, which makes up 6% of the global output, according to estimates from the UK government.
Oil and gas are Russia’s biggest exports, and Moscow’s biggest customers include China, India and Turkey. Trump has also urged these countries to halt purchases of Russian oil in a bid to put economic pressure on the Kremlin.
Trump’s move was praised by UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, who said the US sanctions are “strongly welcome”.
EU Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen posted on X that she spoke by phone to Bessent on Wednesday about “Russia’s lack of commitment to the peace process”.
She also praised a new sanctions package approved by the European Union on Wednesday, which includes a ban on Russian liquefied natural gas imports.
“With the imminent adoption of the EU’s 19th package, this is a clear signal from both sides of the Atlantic that we will keep up collective pressure on the aggressor,” she wrote.
Earlier this year, the UK and US also sanctioned major Russian energy companies Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas.
At the White House, Rutte was expected to discuss a 12-point plan formulated by European NATO allies and Kyiv, which would see the current front lines frozen, a return of deported children as well as a prisoner exchange between the two warring countries.
The plan also includes a war recovery fund for Ukraine, as well as security pathways and a clear pathway for Ukraine to join the EU, as well as increased military aid to Kyiv and economic pressure on Moscow.
Earlier this week, Trump said he did not want a “wasted meeting” with Putin in Budapest, and suggested a main point of contention is Moscow’s refusal to cease fighting along the current front lines of the war.
He last met with Putin in Alaska for a summit the White House hoped would lead to the end of the conflict. Instead, the fighting has continued.
A preparatory meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was also shelved. The meeting this week was no longer “necessary” after a “productive” call, the White House said.
Trump has repeatedly endorsed proposals to freeze the fighting along current frontlines.
“Let it be cut the way it is,” he said on Monday. “I said: cut and stop at the battle line. Go home. Stop fighting, stop killing people.”
Russia has pushed back against that idea, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov saying that “the consistency of Russia’s position doesn’t change” – a reference to its desire for Ukrainian troops to leave the Donbas region in Ukraine’s east.
On Wednesday, Trump also pushed back against reporting in the Wall Street Journal that the US had approved Ukrainian long-range missile strikes into Russia, calling it “fake news”.
Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky has expressed a desire for the US to supply long-range US Tomahawk missiles to his forces and suggested that the threat of their introduction to the war theatre may bring Russia to the negotiating table.
By BBC News
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