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Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Oct. 14 that the U.S. deal to buy Russian diesel is "very risky," joining other European voices criticizing the deal.
Speaking to the Italian Senate, Meloni noted that "the surge in fuel prices is due primarily to the war in Iran, not the conflict in Ukraine," the Italian Ansa news agency reported.
The news follows a deal announced Oct. 9 between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump, allowing Moscow to export diesel fuel to the U.S. and other markets despite sanctions imposed due to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The U.S. Treasury Department said that, following 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."
In response to the deal, the Russian government partially lifted the diesel export ban, permitting the sale of 500,000 metric tons of diesel to foreign markets, effective Oct. 10.
Meloni said that the "outcome of this move is questionable, while the risks are clear: legitimizing Moscow while its bombs continue to fall on Ukrainian cities, generating new revenue to finance the war, and implicitly weakening the leverage of sanctions."
The step goes against the longstanding Western strategy of pressuring Putin to begin earnest negotiations to end the war, she noted.
Meloni, Italy's right-wing prime minister, had long been counted among Trump's ideological allies in Europe, but their relationship has sharply deteriorated over the spring and summer.
President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the Italian prime minister for her "support and a clear, unequivocal, principled stance."
"Thank you for understanding who the aggressor is and what it means to build a dignified and lasting peace. This is possible only through strength and joint efforts for our security," Zelensky said on X.