Donald Trump has blocked sanctions on Russia 48 hours before they were due to take effect, days after striking a controversial diesel deal with Vladimir Putin.
The US President’s row with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has deepened further as Trump issued an executive order on Friday night waiving the sanctions and tariffs.
The legislation, whose main backer was the late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, would 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.
Any country that knowingly bought oil or gas 30 days after the law was enacted or was among the top five countries helping Russia evade sanctions would also have been hit.
It also imposed sanctions on senior Russians, including Putin, Russian banks and Moscow’s shadow fleet of tankers.
A symbolic boost for Russia
It’s the latest controversial decision by Trump amid escalating tensions with Ukraine after he called for Zelensky to be removed from office following his criticism of the US President’s decision on 9 October to import Russian diesel.
On Saturday, Zelensky said Russia struck 15 energy facilities in one of its largest attacks on critical infrastructure, with more than 320 drones and missiles launched across Ukraine overnight:
On Friday, Trump told Congress suspending the sanctions that it passed was in the national interest.
The order said the waiver will remain in effect until Trump or his top officials determine that “further action is appropriate.”
Countries such as China and India, which are among the biggest buyers of Russian oil, have raised concerns about the Russia sanctions bill.
Trump’s decision was welcomed in the Kremlin, where Putin’s investment envoy, Kirill Dmitriev called the US President’s waiver “a truly historic moment.”
But US Representative Don Beyer, a Virginia Democrat, blasted Trump, saying he was giving in to Putin.
“Trump’s latest surrender to Putin again betrays our Ukrainian partners and defies clear congressional intent of legislation designed to punish Russia for its illegal war of aggression,” Beyer said.
The package had been meant to starve the Kremlin of the resources Moscow needs to continue its war after it invaded Ukraine four years ago.
While also giving Russia some economic relief and increase its ability to fund its wartime economy, the sanctions waivers will also provide a symbolic branch with Russia at a time when US-Ukraine relations are faltering.
Increasing attacks on Zelensky
A war of words has erupted between Trump and Zelensky. The Ukrainian leader, angered at the US President introducing measures that will help Russia’s war effort, said of the diesel that it was a “weak agreement” from a “strong partner”.
In veiled criticism of his US counterpart, Zelensky then told an EU summit on Friday it was nice to be among “real leaders” while addressing an EU summit, while Trump said Zelensky was “more difficult to deal with” than Putin and “not a good guy”.
“He doesn’t want to settle,” Trump said. “He says he wants to settle, but he doesn’t.”
It comes after the President’s controversial announcement a week ago that he would ease restrictions that would allow Russian diesel to be imported to the US.
Diesel prices in the US have increased by 70 per cent since Trump’s war with Iran began in February, with the conflict causing major supply issues.
The global shortage has put pressure on Republicans ahead of the midterm elections due to the rising cost of living in the country.
Loss of crucial Starshield satellite system
The sanctions are yet another indication of Trump’s move to increase pressure on Ukraine.
On Friday, Trump insisted that he did not think either he or Elon Musk was responsible for Ukraine losing access to its Starlink satellite internet system, which it relies on to coordinate air defence networks against incoming Russian threats and operate drones.
Ukraine was blindsided on Wednesday when Starshield, the military-grade version of Starlink, began experiencing signal failures at speeds above 160kph.
But the order to limit the satellite system used by Ukraine came from inside the White House, two US officials and a Western official briefed on the matter told Reuters.
The officials said leaders at the Defense Department received a message that the SpaceX Starshield service for the Ukrainian military needed to be slowed.
The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, did not specify who in the White House made the decision or who was responsible for implementing the order. The Pentagon is the biggest customer of Starshield.
By using Starshield, Ukraine has been able to carry out a series of successful strikes on Russian oil refineries, causing diesel shortages and prices rises across the country.
Ukraine has also been able to hit logistics Wildberries warehouses, the Russian equivalent to Amazon, and hit data centre responsible for so-called Russian bot farms, hubs which create fake social media accounts to spread misinformation.
Losing Starshield will force Ukraine to cut back on these successful attacks whilst also making it more vulnerable to Russian attacks.
Kurt Volker, former US ambassador to Nato, told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme: “Starlink gives Ukraine the ability to see what’s coming, to protect people.
“If you cut that off, then more people are going to get killed – and that is a very cynical and callous decision to slow that down the way that has been done.”