President Volodymyr Zelensky said during remarks to journalists that a deal to supply diesel fuel to the United States (US) could open the door for Russia to seek further steps of sanctions relief.
List of possible concessions
“This includes, in particular, fertilisers, gas, frozen assets, other names and entities from which sanctions could be lifted. This has already happened in part — the lifting of sanctions on Russian oligarchs close to the Russian leader. Energy resources are part of Russia’s offer,” the president said.
He added that Russia has vertical control over natural resources, and for that reason Moscow can offer Washington a kind of “economic marriage”. “It is unlikely that such a ‘marriage’ could be advantageous to America in the long term, because in Russia there is some unpleasant element in every deal that is not immediately visible, but in the short term it may appear that there could be benefits,” the president emphasised.
On possible lifting of sanctions and the return of companies
Earlier, The New York Times reported that the United States could lift sanctions on the Russian Direct Investment Fund. It noted that Russia had insisted on such a step during negotiations over diesel supplies, and one US official confirmed that Trump is considering this possibility.
The Financial Times reports that Washington and Moscow are discussing the possibility of American companies returning to the Russian oil market. In particular, this concerns the restoration of a joint venture between American and Russian oil companies off the coast of Sakhalin after the end of the war.
