The administration of US President Donald Trump has decided not to extend a temporary exemption from sanctions on Russian oil, introduced against the backdrop of the protracted war in the Persian Gulf. This was reported by Bloomberg.
The end of the exemption effectively means the end of a short period when the US administration eased sanctions restrictions on Russian oil.
The Trump administration granted the first such exemption in March, and extended it in April. It only applied to some of the Russian oil already loaded onto tankers.
The decisions have sparked debate, particularly among European allies who insist that the sanctions are needed to cut Russia’s oil revenues and limit Moscow’s ability to finance its war in Ukraine.
At the same time, some countries, including India and Indonesia, have asked the US to extend the sanctions exemptions, as the war with Iran and the near-total closure of the Strait of Hormuz are taking millions of barrels of oil off the global market every day.
Trump has previously said that US sanctions against Russian oil will be reinstated as soon as the crisis in the Middle East is over.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, for his part, expressed incomprehension about how the United States could lift sanctions on Russia.
