The Trump administration today announced sanctions against two major Russian oil groups, Rosneft and Lukoil. Washington justifies the new sanctions with “Putin’s refusal to stop this senseless war” against Ukraine, according to a statement.
Announcing the new sanctions against Russia’s two largest oil companies was Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who criticized Moscow’s refusal to end its “senseless war” while US-led efforts to end the war stalled and the Ukrainian president sought more foreign military aid.
The sanctions against Rosneft and Lukoil, as well as dozens of subsidiaries, followed months of bipartisan pressure on President Donald Trump to sanction Russia more harshly in its oil sector.
“Now is the time to stop the bloodshed and establish an immediate ceasefire,” Bessent said in a statement.
Donald Trump and Scott Bessent
Chip Somodevilla
Given Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “refusal to end this senseless war, the Treasury is sanctioning Russia’s two largest oil companies that finance the Kremlin’s war machine.”
Bessent said the Treasury Department was prepared to take additional steps if necessary to support Trump’s effort to end the war. “We encourage our allies to join us and comply with these sanctions,” Bessent said.
The United States Treasury Secretary had said shortly before the official announcement that in the coming hours, Donald Trump’s administration would publicly announce a “substantial increase” in sanctions on Russia.
“We will announce after closing this afternoon or early tomorrow a substantial increase in sanctions on Russia”, declared the Trump administration official to the media in front of the White House, although he did not provide further details on the matter.
According to the US Treasury Secretary, Putin was “neither honest nor frank” with Trump.