US President, Donald Trump has imposed sanctions on Russia for the first time since returning to the White House, citing a lack of progress in ceasefire talks to end Moscow’s war on Ukraine.
US Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent said that the sanctions would target Russia’s two largest oil companies, Lukoil and Rosneft, due to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “refusal to end this senseless war” in Ukraine and Moscow’s “lack of serious commitment” to the peace process.
He asserted that 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.” “We encourage our allies to join us in and adhere to these sanctions,” he said.
The measures taken by the Department of the Treasury, which also sanctioned dozens of Rosneft and Lukoil subsidiaries, block the US assets of the designated firms, while preventing Americans from doing business with them.
The US Treasury Department also said that it was prepared to take further action if Russia continues to wage its war in Ukraine.
Kremlin-controlled Rosneft is Russia’s second-largest company in terms of revenue – behind only gas giant Gazprom – but it has been hit hard in recent years by sanctions and falling oil prices. In September, it reported a 68 percent year-on-year decline in net income for the first half of 2025.
Lukoil, Russia’s third-largest firm and its largest non-state enterprise, also posted a 26.5 percent fall in profits for 2024, citing increased taxation as Moscow funds its war effort in Ukraine.
Last week, the United Kingdom announced its own sanctions against both firms, saying that there was “no place for Russia in global markets” and Britain would take all steps to stop Moscow from funding its war in Ukraine.
The sanctions come as Trump’s patience with President Putin appears to be wearing thin, with ceasefire talks continuing to make little progress.
Speaking to reporters at the White House after announcing he had postponed his planned meeting with Putin in Hungary, Trump said that the timing of the meeting felt off.
“We cancelled the meeting with President Putin – it just didn’t feel right to me. It didn’t feel like we were going to get to the place we have to get. So I cancelled it, but we’ll do it in the future.”
Donald Trump
The US leader said that he hoped the sanctions would not need to be in place for long, but expressed growing frustration with stalled truce negotiations.
“Every time I speak with Vladimir, I have good conversations, and then they don’t go anywhere. They just don’t go anywhere.”
Donald Trump
US Sanctions Coincide With EU’s 19th Sanctions Package Against Russia
Washington’s sanctions were announced on the same day as the EU said it had also approved its 19th package of sanctions against Moscow over its war against Ukraine, including an EU ban on Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports.
The Danish rotating presidency of the EU said in a statement, “We are very pleased to announce that we have just been notified by the remaining member state that it’s now able to lift its reservation on the 19th sanctions package.”
Slovakia had been holding out after the EU agreed on the final text last week. Prime Minister Robert Fico was seeking assurances from the European Commission on high energy prices and aligning climate targets with the needs of carmakers and heavy industry.
According to a Slovak diplomat, new clauses meeting Slovakia’s demands were added to the final communique on the new package of sanctions in advance of the EU leaders’ summit in Brussels.
The new package will see short-term LNG contracts with Russia end after six months, and long-term contracts end from January 1, 2027.
The sanctions also add new travel restrictions on Russian diplomats and list 117 more vessels from Moscow’s shadow fleet of clandestine sanctions-evading vessels, bringing the total to 558, as well as banks in Kazakhstan and Belarus.
Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Chief of staff, celebrated the package but said “we are not stopping.”
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