OMM Newsroom
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday that no sanctions on Russia had been lifted, defending President Donald Trump’s decision to waive new punitive measures amid the war in Ukraine. Anadolu Agency reported the remarks.
“No sanctions were lifted on Friday,” Bessent told “NBC News”, adding that the administration had been given 60 days to examine the situation.
“The only thing that has been lifted is the diesel embargo,” he said, maintaining that the US had not rolled back its existing sanctions.
Bessent said Trump had taken a tough stance towards Moscow, pointing to sanctions imposed on Russia’s two largest energy companies, “Rosneft” and “Lukoil”. He called the measures “a catastrophic blow to the Russian energy industry”.
His comments followed a warning from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Washington siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin would be a “historic mistake”. Zelenskyy also said he hoped Trump would reconsider his decisions.
“We want to trust him,” Zelenskyy told “NBC News” earlier. He warned that Ukraine could not withstand a situation in which Washington and Moscow aligned against Kyiv.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine had experienced a temporary interruption in US intelligence sharing and restrictions on satellite communications that are critical to its defence against Russian attacks.
Bessent rejected Zelenskyy’s allegation that the Trump administration was responsible for the disruptions, saying it was “very reckless for President Zelensky to make such a charge”.
He also denied that Washington was siding with Moscow, citing US intelligence support, access to “Starlink” and arrangements allowing NATO members to purchase American weapons for Ukraine.
Defending the administration’s approach, Bessent criticised European countries for continuing to buy Russian energy while providing financial support to Moscow.
“The Europeans have given Russia and Vladimir Putin more money than they’ve given the Ukrainians,” he said.
