President Donald Trump has unleashed a powerful new round of sanctions targeting Russia’s top two oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, following what he described as Vladimir Putin’s failure to negotiate in “an honest and forthright manner” over Ukraine.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the measures on Wednesday, saying the administration had reached the end of its patience after months of stalled diplomacy. “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,” Bessent said in a statement, adding that the department stands ready “to take further action if necessary” to back Trump’s efforts to bring the conflict to an end.
The announcement came just a day after the White House canceled a planned Trump-Putin summit in Budapest, a meeting that had been billed as a potential breakthrough but was scrapped due to what U.S. officials called a total lack of progress in ceasefire negotiations.
Bessent, speaking to Fox Business shortly before the sanctions were unveiled, described the move as “one of the largest sanctions that we have done against the Russian Federation.” He explained that while the president had initially pursued diplomacy, his patience had worn thin after seeing no signs of compromise from Moscow.
“President Putin has not come to the table in an honest and forthright manner, as we’d hoped,” Bessent said, revealing that Trump had reached the decision to escalate pressure after their last phone conversation six days earlier.
According to Bessent, Trump’s frustration had been growing since his in-person meeting with Putin in Alaska this past August. “President Trump walked away when he realized that things were not moving forward,” the Treasury chief said. “There have been behind-the-scenes talks, but I believe that the president is disappointed at where we are in these talks.”
The European Union quickly followed Washington’s lead, announcing fresh penalties of its own. The EU’s latest package includes a ban on importing Russian liquefied natural gas by 2027, the blacklisting of oil tankers aiding Moscow’s exports, and travel restrictions on Russian diplomats.
Trump, who returned to the White House in January, had previously held back from new economic measures against Russia, insisting he wanted to give diplomacy a chance. But after three and a half years of bloodshed and no ceasefire in sight, the president shifted gears dramatically.
Only last week, Trump had publicly expressed optimism after speaking with Putin, claiming the two had agreed to meet in Budapest within two weeks to discuss peace. At the same time, he pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to consider territorial concessions while rejecting Kyiv’s requests for long-range Tomahawk missiles.
By Tuesday, Trump reversed course again, saying he didn’t want to attend a “wasted meeting” — effectively calling off the planned summit and signaling that his approach toward Moscow had hardened.
The financial markets reacted immediately to the news of the sanctions. Oil prices jumped in after-hours trading, with both WTI and Brent crude rising more than 1% as traders braced for potential disruptions to Russian energy exports.
{Matzav.com}
