Kremlin praises Trump's 'historic' decision to suspend sanctions on Russia a day before they were due to take effect

The Kremlin has praised as 'historic' Donald Trump's waiver of imminent sanctions on Russia in a move which could bolster its war against Ukraine.

The US President passed an executive order late last night blocking the sanctions on oil and gas exports which were due to take effect tomorrow.

They would have significantly damaged Russia's war efforts against Ukraine and heavily punished countries who helped to facilitate and finance the Kremlin.

The US President claimed the waiver of the measures championed by the late senator Lindsey Graham and passed into law last month was in the 'national interest'.

The decision comes after it was announced Britain will join Germany and France in a major military exercise in Poland next month. Meanwhile, it was reported last night RAF jets have had 'close encounters with two unidentified drones in British skies' this year so far. 

Today, Russia's presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev described Mr Trump's decision to waive some sanctions and tariffs on Moscow's energy exports as a 'historic moment'.

The remarks from the Russian envoy came just hours after Trump's waiver on the so called Graham Act.

'The Trump administration's suspension of the Graham Act is an important and truly historic moment,' he said on social media channel X.

Claiming the 'US-Russia economic dialogue will continue and peacemaking efforts will continue', he said the act could have 'effectively brought all economic co-operation between Russia and the United States to a complete halt, inflicting serious damage primarily on the US economy and global markets'.

The US announced it would be suspending its sanctions on Russia with a post on the White House website. 

It was noted that a report explaining the decision had been submitted to Congress.

Suspending the bill has been seen by a triumphant Moscow as a sign the US President is backing Russia in its war against Ukraine.

Last night, Putin was seen in military fatigues on state television talking bullishly to army chiefs signalling the US move has bolstered Kremlin confidence.

Mr Trump also said yesterday at a supporters' rally ahead of the midterm congressional elections that the Ukraine war 'has to stop'.

Meanwhile, the UK's former National Security Adviser Lord Peter Ricketts accused the US President today of 'going all out to woo Putin' in a bid to get diesel and using the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as 'a scapegoat'.

It comes a week after Mr Trump outraged Ukraine by suspending sanctions against Russia and striking a deal to stock the US with an initial supply of more than 300,000 tons of diesel followed by further shipments.

It launched him into an escalating war of words with Mr Zelensky who condemned Mr Trump's lifting of sanctions to bring in the diesel as 'a gift to Putin' and a move that would allow the Russian leader to 'kill more people' and 'wage war for longer'.

In retaliation, Mr Trump said it was time for Ukraine to 'get a new leader' and later in the week, he accused Mr Zelensky of destroying Ukraine and 'being more difficult to deal with than Putin' while branding Ukraine's attacks on Russian oil refineries as a 'disgrace'.

Speaking to the BBC this morning, the former NSA Head and Foreign Office chief Lord Ricketts said that Mr Trump was 'obsessed' with bringing diesel prices down ahead of the US midterm elections.

'He has identified Putin as someone who can help with that. He has diesel. He has oil and gas and Zelensky is an obstacle to that. 

'He gets in the way. He is annoying so now he is the scapegoat and Trump is going all out to woo Putin with the aim of getting that diesel over to America.'

He told Radio 4's Today programme: 'He is entirely focused on working with Putin to solve his immediate problem.'

The new bill was intended to starve Putin of the resources and finances he needs to step up his war against Ukraine which is now heading towards its fifth year.

It would crucially have imposed tariffs of up to 100 per cent within 30 days on all goods brought into the US from the five largest importers of Russian crude oil or gas.

It would also have sanctioned Russian officials, banks and a shadow fleet of tankers that keeps Russian energy circulating around the world.

And it would have imposed tough sanctions on any country who knowingly bought oil or gas from Moscow 30 days after the law was enacted, or any country that was among the top five countries helping Russia evade sanctions.

Countries including China and India would have been affected by the bill.

Announcing the order, Mr Trump said: 'I have submitted to the ⁠Congress a certification that the issuance of such a waiver at this time is in the national interests of the United States.'

Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat who had helped to draft the legislation, accused Mr Trump of turning his back on 'the majority of Americans, their representatives in both houses of Congress, and our European allies'.

'These waivers have nothing to do with our national security, and everything to do with sucking up to Vladimir Putin,' he warned.

Lagging in the polls and with his approval ratings at an all-time low with his war on Iran unpopular with ordinary Americans, Mr Trump's latest move is widely seen as a bid to desperately improve his standing ahead of the November 3 midterms.

Calling him 'mercurial,' Lord Ricketts said he would not be surprised if he blamed Putin if he did not do well in the elections and changed his position but he warned that it was 'a real problem for the Ukrainian people' with the MAGA movement and far-Right politicians in Europe claiming Ukraine could never win the war.

Dismissing the UK as unlikely to 'have any influence on Donald Trump in the short term' by the PM 'acting as a bridge' between the US and Ukraine, he also warned UK ministers should 'put more effort into the coalition of the willing 'to get behind Ukraine and to give Zelensky 'not just the arm around the shoulder in Downing Street but to give him the material to get through this very difficult winter'.

He also sounded a sombre warning to the government that it should start 'to warn the British people about what was coming'.

'Not only is Putin trying to break morale in Ukraine. He is also trying to undermine morale in European countries,' he said.

'We have had some pretty stark warnings this week from the Director of MI5 and also from the Head of the Army that there could be worse to come in the form of hybrid attacks in the UK and in other European countries. I would like to hear what they are going to be doing about that.'

Calling on the government to 'get on with spending the money on defence and also on resilience – our energy, our transport infrastructure, our air traffic control system, our defence sites,' he warned:

'They all need better protection and that's an argument in Parliament that needs to happen because they need to find the money to do it.

'I am not saying there's going to be industrial war with tanks rolling across the North German plains but these hybrid attacks are getting more reckless and dangerous – one day people will end up being killed somewhere so we are going to have to look at responding in that sense and finding the money to do it and that's a discussion that needs to start now.'