The United States has imposed “substantial” sanctions on Russia’s two biggest oil companies over Vladimir Putin’s refusal to end the “senseless” war in Ukraine.
Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, claimed the punitive measures against Rosneft and Lukoil will “degrade” the Russian tyrant’s war chest and support Donald Trump’s efforts to reach a ceasefire deal.
He accused the state-run energy giants of funding “the Kremlin’s war machine” and urged western allies to “adhere to these sanctions”.
“Now is the time to stop the killing and for an immediate ceasefire,” Mr Bessent said. “(The) Treasury is prepared to take further action if necessary.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Bessent told Fox News that Mr Putin “has not come to the table in an honest and forthright manner, as we'd hoped”.
His announcement comes a week after Britain sanctioned Rosneft and Lukoil, as well as the country's "shadow fleet" of oil tankers, in what Chancellor Rachel Reeves claimed is "significantly stepping up the pressure on Russia”.
The companies export more than three million barrels of oil per day, with Rosneft responsible for nearly half of Russia’s oil production and 6 per cent of global output.
Shortly after Mr Bessent’s statement, seven people, including two children, were confirmed to have been killed during intense Russian strikes across Ukraine.
It came less than 24 hours after the US president announced he would no longer sit down with his Russian counterpart in the “immediate future” to discuss the conflict.
Following the Anchorage Summit in August, Mr Trump had announced he would hold a second in-person meeting with Mr Putin in Budapest on Thursday.
But preparations for the encounter stalled when the Moscow cancelled a preparatory discussion between Russia’s foreign secretary Sergei Lavrov and US secretary of state Marco Rubio over the proposal to freeze the current frontline.
"Let it be cut the way it is," Mr Trump said on Monday. "Stop at the battle line. Go home. Stop fighting, stop killing people."
Mark Rutte, the Secretary-General of NATO, was due to arrive at the White House on Wednesday, claiming that Mr Trump is "the only one who can get this done".
The European Union said it too was imposing new sanctions, including a ban on importing natural gas from Russia by 2027.
But Mr Trump has pressured Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to surrender territory and rejected his plea for long-range Tomahawk missiles.
In return, the US has offered Ukraine NATO-style protections without the need for them to officially join the military bloc.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has pushed back against the West’s demands, saying that "the consistency of Russia's position doesn't change".
Russia is continuing to push for further concessions from Ukraine, including the complete surrender of Donetsk.
Last week, Mr Putin told Mr Trump that he would pull his forces out of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in exchange for the Donbas.
Steve Witkoff, Mr Trump’s special envoy, told Mr Zelensky in Washington on Monday that Russia had a constitutional claim to these lands.
