President Donald Trump has granted a 30-day waiver allowing countries to purchase sanctioned Russian oil and petroleum products currently stranded at sea.
The temporary measure aims to ease the supply shortfall caused by the ongoing Iran war.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent acknowledged that the move was “unfortunate” because it could indirectly benefit Russia. However, he said the decision was necessary to calm global energy markets as prices continue to climb.
The United States is also preparing to release 172 million barrels of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve. This step forms part of a wider effort by the 32-nation International Energy Agency (IEA), which has pledged to release a total of 400 million barrels to help stabilize supply.
According to presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev, the waiver could apply to roughly 100 million barrels of Russian crude currently unable to reach buyers. Dmitriev criticized European leaders who have opposed the American move.
He wrote on Telegram that the additional relaxation of restrictions on Russian energy exports “appears increasingly inevitable, despite resistance from some Brussels bureaucrats.”
Roman Sheremeta, an economics professor at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio, described the US decision as “a backstabbing of Ukraine.” His remarks followed Kyiv’s cooperation with the United States and its allies to counter Iranian drones.
Sheremeta argued that instead of firmly supporting Ukraine, Trump has effectively provided “a lifeline” to Russia’s economy and significant funding for its military. “It means more missiles; more drones,” he wrote on LinkedIn.
Russia has already generated billions of dollars from fossil fuel exports since the attacks on Iran began, according to Alexander Kirk, a sanctions campaigner at Urgewald.
“Every time sanctions are weakened when energy prices rise, the message to the Kremlin is clear: wait long enough and the West will blink,” Kirk said in a statement.
Activists warned that increasing the supply of Russian oil to global markets could “refill the Kremlin’s war chest, undermining US foreign policy and weakening European security”.