Washington’s diesel deal: A door in the sanctions wall

On Friday, President Trump described his phone call with Vladimir Putin as “highly successful.” By Monday, oil traders had reason to agree. Kyiv had reason to feel betrayed. In a single weekend, Washington dismantled part of the sanctions architecture it had spent four years building against Russia, all to shave a few cents from the price of diesel three weeks before an American election. The mechanics are straightforward. Russia banned its own diesel exports on 8th July after Ukrainian drone strikes crippled its refineries and constricted domestic supply. That ban, combined with the disruption the Iran war inflicted on Gulf shipping, helped drive diesel prices toward record highs worldwide. On 9th October, Trump announced that Putin had agreed to release […]