The US has banned foreign companies from paying for Russian energy resources through sanctioned banks.
This was reported by Fox News White House correspondent Edward Lawrence, citing his own source.
The point is that the US did not renew the license that allows foreign companies to pay for Russian oil through sanctioned banks. It expired yesterday, March 12. This is supposedly a negotiating tactic to end the war in Ukraine.
“The United States will continue to implement sanctions, which remain one of the key levers for achieving this goal [cessation of hostilities and continuation of negotiations to end the war in Ukraine],” the journalist wrote, citing a source.
Trumpʼs position on sanctions against Russia
The US President Donald Trump said on March 7 that he may impose large-scale sanctions against Russia, including banking sanctions, and impose new tariffs until there is a ceasefire and a peace agreement with Ukraine.
Such statements are not isolated. On February 7, his special representative Keith Kellogg said that the US president was ready to double US sanctions against Russia in order to stop the war.
The day before, on March 6, the US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent promised that the United States would impose sanctions on Russian energy if it contributed to a ceasefire in Ukraine. However, there were no new restrictions against Russia today, except that Trump extended sanctions against Russia for a year over the war in Ukraine.
Bloomberg, citing sources, wrote that the US will not lift sanctions against Russia in the absence of a noticeable change in Moscowʼs behaviour. But it is possible that some of them will be eased if the Russians begin to take the measures that the US seeks.
Reuters later reported that the White House was looking at options for a possible easing of sanctions against Russia. Sanctions agencies are preparing a proposal to lift sanctions on individual entities and individuals, including a number of Russian oligarchs.
Ending the war in Ukraine
On March 11, negotiations between delegations from Ukraine and the United States took place in Saudi Arabia. As a result, Ukraine agreed to an immediate temporary ceasefire — in exchange, Washington decided to resume aid and intelligence sharing. Trumpʼs national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said that he would discuss the idea of a temporary ceasefire with his Russian counterpart "in the coming days". Volodymyr Zelensky said that a 30-day ceasefire would work for the entire front line if Russia agreed to it.
Putin said on March 13 that the ceasefire is “the right idea” that Russia supports, but there are issues that still need to be discussed. He considers it very difficult to control violations during the ceasefire on the almost 2 000 km² of the front line.
And also, according to him, it is unclear what will happen to those who remained in the Kursk region: whether the Ukrainian command will order the fighters to lay down their arms and surrender, or whether the Russian Federation should release them from this zone without a fight.
Putin says that during these 30 days of ceasefire, Ukraine can continue to receive weapons, mobilize, and train mobilized troops — the Russian Federation needs guarantees that this will not happen, but it is currently unclear how to control these moments.
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