U.S. sanctions Russia's 2 biggest oil firms after Trump cancels Putin summit
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p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 13.0px 'Helvetica Neue'} President Vladimir Putin and President Trump in Anchorage, Alaska, in August. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
The U.S. imposed new sanctions against Russia's two biggest oil companies on Wednesday in an effort to press Russian leader Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire, President Trump said.
Why it matters: This is the first time the U.S. has imposed sanctions against Russia over the war with Ukraine since Trump assumed office.
- For months, Trump said imposing sanctions on Russia would undermine his diplomatic efforts to end the war. The shift suggest he thinks that approach has failed.
- The new sanctions come a day after Trump cancelled plans for a meeting with Putin. It signal's Trump's immense frustration with the Russian president.
Behind the scenes: A U.S. official said Trump's frustration with Russia reached new heights after a call between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday.
- The call ended with no progress and led to the conclusion that the Russians are not in a place that allow to reach a deal to end thew war and therefore there was no point of holding a meeting between Trump and Putin, the U.S. official said.
- That conclusion paved the way to Trump's decision to impose the new sanctions against Russia.
Driving the news: The Treasury Department announced on Thursday it had imposed further sanctions against Rosneft Oil Company and Lukoil OAO.
- Both companies specialize in the exploration, extraction, production, refining, transport, and sale of petroleum, natural gas, and petroleum products in Russia and internationally.
- The Treasury Department also sanctioned several subsidiaries of both companies.
- All property and interests of the designated companies or persons in the U.S. will be frozen and U.S. persons or entities will not be allowed to do business with them.
- "The sanctions 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," the Department of Treasury said in a statement.
What he's saying: In a meeting with NATO secretary general Marc Rutte shortly after the sanctions were announced, Trump said he felt it was time to impose the penalties on Russia.
- "I waited a long time. These are big sanctions. We hope they won't be on for long and that the war will be settled. We would like to see them take the line [of contact] and go home," Trump said of Russia and Ukraine.
- Trump added that he hoped Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "will become reasonable," adding: "It takes two to tango."
- Trump said he "cancelled" his planned meeting with Putin because he felt it is not going to lead to any results in the current time. "We will do it sometime in the future," he said.
- Trump said that every time he speaks to Putin, they have good conversations and then they don't go anywhere."
Of note: He said one of the reasons he decided not to supply long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine was that it takes six to 12 months to train on operating them.
