"National interest" – Trump suspends planned sanctions against Russia

First, the US President struck a controversial diesel deal with Russia; now Trump is suspending sanctions that had only just been agreed. The White House justifies this on the grounds of national interest. Moscow is delighted, whilst Ukraine is appalled. Just a few days after his diesel deal with Moscow, US President Donald Trump has now put a recently adopted package of sanctions against Russia on hold. The drastic punitive measures passed by the US Congress are thus suspended until further notice. Trump justified his move by stating that it was “in the national interest” of the US “at this point in time”. The White House has so far provided no details as to how the suspension of the sanctions serves the national interest. Moscow delighted by “historic moment” The Russian government welcomed the move. The suspension of the sanctions was “an important and truly historic moment”, said President Vladimir Putin’s economic adviser, Kirill Dmitriev, on social media. The sanctions had caused “severe damage” to the US economy and global markets, said Dmitriev. As a Kremlin negotiator, he is also discussing an end to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Zelenskyy sees it as an incentive for Kremlin leader Putin Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on the other hand, criticised Trump’s decision. Easing the pressure on Russia and offering financial rewards would merely encourage Kremlin leader Putin to strike again, he wrote in a post on the messaging service Telegram. He lamented that Trump had decided to take this step the day after Moscow had carried out one of its most massive strikes against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Sanctions against Russia’s energy sector It was only in mid-September that Trump signed the bill passed by the US Congress introducing new, far-reaching punitive measures against Russia. It was aimed in particular at the Russian energy sector. Trump has now suspended the tariffs by executive order shortly before the expiry of a deadline set by Congress. The law stipulated that the tariffs and sanctions set out in the text would automatically come into force 30 days after signing – unless the President decided otherwise within that period. Controversial diesel deal with Russia Congress had intended the sanctions to increase pressure on Russia; however, faced with rising fuel prices and under pressure ahead of the mid-term elections, Trump set other priorities. A few days ago, disregarding existing sanctions, he had agreed with the Kremlin on the supply of Russian diesel and subsequently stepped up the pressure on Ukraine and President Zelenskyy. Trump denies ordering Starlink throttling Trump has now denied, however, that he was responsible for the temporary throttling of the US military’s Starlink satellite internet service in Ukraine. “I didn’t do that. No, we didn’t do that at all,” he told reporters in Washington. Trump’s statements contradict those of Elon Musk, who owns SpaceX, the company that operates Starlink. “Any speed or usage restrictions are set by the US military and, ultimately, by the US President,” Musk had previously posted on X.