President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that his administration is raising sanctions on Russia in a pressure campaign to bring a close to the Russia-Ukraine war.
Trump shared a press release from his Treasury Department late Wednesday afternoon announcing additional sanctions on Russia’s top oil companies. The Treasury is placing Open Joint Stock Company Rosneft Oil and Lukoil OAO under sanctions laid out in Executive Order 14024 “for operating or having operated in the energy sector of the Russian Federation economy.”
“Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is imposing further sanctions as a result of Russia’s lack of serious commitment to a peace process to end the war in Ukraine,” the release begins.
“Today’s actions increase pressure on Russia’s energy sector and degrade the Kremlin’s ability to raise revenue for its war machine and support its weakened economy,” it continues.
Dozens of the companies’ subsidiaries are also being sanctioned, including those involved in exploration, development, production, and refinement. Companies in which Rosneft and Lukoil own over a 50 percent stake are blocked, it specifies.
“Now is the time to stop the killing and for an immediate ceasefire,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in the press release. “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,” he added.
During an Oval Office meeting with North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary General Mark Rutte, Trump said, “These are tremendous sanctions.”
“And we hope that they won’t be on for long. We hope that the war will be settled,” he added.
The release directs that “all property and interests in property of the designated or blocked persons” subject to the sanctions “that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC.”
“[A]ll transactions by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of blocked persons” are generally prohibited.
Moreover, “foreign financial institutions that conduct or facilitate significant transactions or provide any service involving Russia’s military-industrial base, including any persons blocked pursuant to E.O. 14024,” like Open Joint Stock Company Rosneft Oil and Lukoil OAO or its subsidiaries, could be sanctioned themselves.
Trump has made it a top priority to bring the war to a close since returning to office, and has used tariffs as one tool and effort to bring Russia to the negotiating table. For instance, in late August, he imposed a 25 percent additional tariff on India over reports of Russian oil purchases.
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