U.S. Imposes Sanctions on Russian Oil Giants Rosneft and Lukoil

"...ratcheted America’s economic war with Russia to a higher level..."

"...signaling a new willingness by the United States to cripple the Russian energy sector..."

"...demonstrate the extent of Mr. Trump’s frustration with Russian President Vladimir V. Putin..."

"...have the potential — if strictly enforced — to strike a major blow to the Russian economy..."

"...represents a striking shift in strategy from Mr. Trump..."

"...essentially giving Mr. Putin a reprieve..."

"...the use of such trade measures to get countries such as India to stop buying Russian oil has so far been unsuccessful..."

"...violence in Ukraine continuing..."

"...suddenly called off..."

"...To many observers, it appeared that there was little left for the United States to sanction in Russia..."

"...Now the gloves are off..."

"...inflation gripped the global economy..."

"...create more problems than it would solve..."

"...limited success..."

"...Russia managed to evade those restrictions with a 'shadow fleet' of unmarked tankers..."

"...the macroeconomic situation is much different now given that inflation has eased..."

"...Oil prices were down 18 percent this year..."

"...Russia earns about $600 million per day from oil sales..."

"...keep its shaky economy afloat and fund its military..."

"...blacklisting them could cut deeply into their sales..."

"...Russia’s central bank might have to intervene to prop up the ruble..."

"...Russian government’s already depleted budget is likely be further stretched..."

"...This is going to directly affect the hard currency generation for the war machine..."

"...The situation was already bad and it’s going to get markedly worse for the Russian economy..."

"...Russia’s economic output will slow to 0.6 percent this year from 4.3 percent in 2024..."

"...assets of Lukoil and Rosneft in the United States will have to be divested..."

"...banks around the world that finance transactions with Lukoil and Rosneft could be subject to penalties and cut off from much of the global financial system..."

"...tended to act unilaterally when it comes to economic diplomacy..."

"...sanctions appeared coordinated with allies..."

"...Britain announced sanctions on the same companies last week..."

"...new European Union sanctions package also targeted Russian energy..."

"...other tools at the Trump administration’s disposal..."

"...blacklist additional Russian banks..."

"...impose a blanket ban on Russian energy exports..."

"...discussing seizing Russia’s $300 billion of frozen central bank assets..."

"...using those funds for Ukraine’s reconstruction..."

"...used sanctions aggressively against Iran during his first term..."

"...been a longtime skeptic of their merits..."

"...preference for using tariffs to force other nations to change their behavior..."

"...concerns about the erosion of the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency..."

"...excessive use of sanctions 'kills your dollar'..."

"...countries shift to using other currencies to evade them..."

"...turned to cryptocurrencies to avoid U.S. sanctions..."

"...encouraged the idea of a BRICS currency..."

"...reduce their reliance on the dollar..."

"...I want to use sanctions as little as possible..."

"...like to impose them and then remove them as quickly as possible..."

"...sanctions are more powerful than tariffs..."

"...dollar is used for about 90 percent of global foreign exchange transactions..."

"...Tariffs are easier to avoid and impose higher costs on American consumers..."

"...success of the sanctions will depend on Mr. Trump’s commitment to punishing Chinese banks and Indian oil refiners..."

"...allow purchases from Lukoil and Rosneft to go forward..."

"...It really comes down to secondary sanctions..."

"...I worry that some entities within these countries are going to say, 'I don’t really believe Trump is going to sanction me.'..."