The Treasury Department announced new sanctions targeting Russia’s oil sector Wednesday, the day after President Donald Trump confirmed that a planned meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss Russia’s war with Ukraine was off.
“Now is the time to stop the killing and for an immediate ceasefire,” Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said in a statement. “Given President Putin’s refusal to end this senseless war, Treasury is sanctioning Russia’s two largest oil companies that fund the Kremlin’s war machine. Treasury is prepared to take further action if necessary to support President Trump’s effort to end yet another war. We encourage our allies to join us in and adhere to these sanctions.”
The two companies being sanctioned are Rosneft and Lukoil and some of their subsidiaries, according to the statement.
Despite the war and battered Russian economy, Rosneft and Lukoil are worth more than $50 billion each and are two of the biggest companies listed on the Moscow Stock Exchange.
A senior White House official told NBC News that Trump was following his gut on the timing of the sanctions. “The president leads by instinct, and he felt the time [for the sanctions] was appropriate,” the official said.
What You Might Not Know
After President Trump announced the upcoming meeting in Budapest with Russian President Putin, Bloomberg reported that Kiev and its European allies were finalizing a proposal that rules out territorial concessions to Russia – a key condition Moscow says is essential for lasting peace.
Speaking in Vienna on Wednesday, Russia’s envoy to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Yulia Zhdanova, argued that the EU, having failed to isolate or defeat Russia, has turned to a policy of militarization that benefits their defense industries.
“European states have now set their course on preparing for a high-intensity conflict with a ‘comparable adversary’,” she said, accusing the bloc of rejecting calls from Moscow and Washington for a negotiated solution.
According to Zdhanova, when US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed during a recent phone call to meet in Hungary, it reportedly caused concern across the EU, so much so that some politicians even called for Putin’s arrest under an International Criminal Court warrant.
The EU put the poisoned pill in that statement – not changing borders by force so they expect Putin to give back the land when they know there is 0% chance of that happening. The ghouls of Brussels have obviously decided to sacrifice the lives of every last Ukrainian. https://t.co/cTrDqjWCR5
— Brenda (@BRENDA5000) October 21, 2025
Since the West caused the war, unless Ukraine makes concessions, I am totally on Russia’s side. It’s been the West the entire time unwilling to negotiate and make concessions. I think Russia took a justified but drastic action to attack Ukraine. The US actions here are mostly posturing and rhetoric. Russia’s oil will remain on the market. Russia is a… Read more »