WASHINGTON—The United States announced on Oct. 22 new sanctions on Russia, targeting the country’s two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, in an effort to limit the Kremlin’s ability to fund its war machine.
“I just felt it was time. We’ve waited a long time,” President Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office as he hosted NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
“These are very big, against their two big oil companies,” Trump said, referring to the sanctions. “And we hope that they won't be on for long. We hope that the war will be settled.”
Rutte welcomed the new sanctions, stating that they would be “putting more pressure” on Russia.
“It's all about changing the calculus,” he said.
The sanctions were imposed by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Wednesday and will also impact subsidiaries of the two oil companies.
“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,” Bessent said. “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 announcement comes as efforts to secure a cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine have stalled after Trump canceled a possible meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest, Hungary.
The president said he would make an announcement “over the next two days” about the next steps.
Trump’s decision to cancel a potential summit with Putin followed a phone call between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
The two diplomats were expected to meet this week to prepare for a possible leaders’ summit, but the White House determined that the meeting was “not necessary” after the call.
In August, Trump and Putin held a meeting in Alaska, which failed to generate a breakthrough for peace. After the summit, the Russian president was expected to hold a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but the meeting never took place.
During an event at the White House’s Rose Garden on Oct. 21, Trump said his administration had already worked to “put out eight wars” and that it would soon end a ninth, seemingly referring to the Russia–Ukraine war.
The Trump administration has recently increased pressure on Putin to end the war in Ukraine. Last week, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth warned Moscow that the United States and its NATO allies would “impose costs” on Russia if it didn’t quickly end the conflict.
Hegseth said that the United States and Europe were sending a “clear message” to Russia.
“Now is the time to end this tragic war, stop the needless bloodshed, and come to the peace table,” he said.
“If this war does not end, if there is no path to peace in the short term, then the United States, along with our allies, will take the steps necessary to impose costs on Russia for its continued aggression.”
“That’s a big stop,” Trump said. “Now [I’ve] got to get China to do the same thing.”
Under the bill’s provisions, the United States would impose 500 percent tariffs on all Russian goods and services, as well as those of nations that buy Russian uranium and petroleum products.