Key facts
- 12 U.S. senators urged President Trump to rescind a deal allowing Russian diesel exports.
- The senators cited the deal as a 'gift to our adversary and a betrayal of our Allies'.
- They proposed using sanctions under Senator Lindsey Graham's law, passed in September.
- The law authorizes the president to impose up to a 100% tariff on top buyers of Russian gas and oil.
- The deal, announced Oct. 9, allows Russia to export diesel fuel despite sanctions.
- Russia permitted the sale of 500,000 metric tons of diesel to foreign markets starting Oct. 10.
A bipartisan group of 12 U.S. senators on October 13 called on President Donald Trump to revoke a recent agreement that permits Russia to export diesel fuel, arguing the deal benefits Moscow and undermines international allies.
The senators, including Democrats Richard Blumenthal and Republicans Mitch McConnell, stated in a letter shared with the Kyiv Independent that the deal "should be rescinded" as it constitutes a "gift to our adversary and a betrayal of our Allies."
Instead, they urged Trump to utilize sanctions authorized by a law passed in September, named after the late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. This law empowers the president to impose tariffs of up to 100% on the top five countries importing Russian gas and oil, among other measures.
The agreement, announced on October 9 between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, allows Russia to export diesel fuel to the U.S. and other global markets, despite existing sanctions imposed due to the invasion of Ukraine. Following Trump's direction, the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a temporary general license to facilitate these exports.
In response, the Russian government partially lifted its diesel export ban, permitting the sale of 500,000 metric tons of diesel to foreign markets starting October 10. The senators contended that allowing Moscow to freely sell Russian diesel globally "damages American security interests and is a betrayal of the people of Ukraine."
The letter also noted that while acknowledging the need to lower energy costs for U.S. families, the senators warned that the Russian diesel deal would have a "negligible impact on fuel prices" while simultaneously bolstering the Kremlin's war funding. Earlier, on October 11, seven bipartisan members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee had also released a statement condemning the decision and calling for its immediate reversal.