President Donald Trump said Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin would “immediately” release hundreds of thousands of tons of diesel fuel onto the global market.
Trump made the announcement on Truth Social and said the action would will help bring diesel prices down.
Since its illegal invasion of Ukraine, wide-ranging sanctions have been applied to Russia. In order to get the diesel fuel moved, the Treasury Department simultaneously announced Friday that it would be easing sanctions on Russia through April 7.
“Today, at President Trump’s direction, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is immediately issuing a temporary general license to allow the supply of Russian diesel to the global market,” the Treasury Department said on X.
A document posted to the Treasury’s website said that “the sale, delivery, offloading, or importation, including importation into the United States, of diesel fuel of Russian Federation origin are authorized through 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time, April 7, 2027.
In a separate statement, Putin said that he had informed Trump of Russia’s “readiness to supply oil and petroleum products to the US and global markets.” Putin did not offer any specifics, however, such as when a potential release would begin or how much fuel it would entail.
Since the start of the Iran war in February, the price of diesel fuel has soared almost 70%, and economists have warned that the price hikes will have wide-ranging inflationary effects on the global economy.
In recent weeks, sharp escalations in the Russia-Ukraine war have caused diesel to spike even further, and for multiple weeks the price of diesel set repeated all-time records.
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