Trump puts on hold new Russia sanctions he signed into law
US president’s executive order comes two days before sanctions deadline and a week after diesel deal with Putin.
United States President Donald Trump has put on hold a sweeping package of sanctions on Russia that he signed into law last month, telling Congress the pause is in the national interest.
Trump signed an executive order on Friday, two days before a deadline in the law that would put the sanctions into effect.
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The law – named after Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator who died unexpectedly in July after returning from Ukraine – passed in the House of Representatives and the Senate by large margins. The bipartisan legislation was drafted by Graham and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal.
It seeks to starve Moscow of money for its war on Ukraine by sanctioning Russian officials, banks and a shadow fleet of tankers carrying its energy exports.
It also directed Trump to impose tariffs of up to 100 percent on the five biggest importers of Russian oil or gas with an exception for countries that import less than 15 percent of Russia’s natural gas exports and are taking steps to cut them.
Kirill Dmitriev, special envoy for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said on social media that Trump’s move was “an important and truly historic moment”.
“The US-Russia economic dialogue and peacemaking efforts will continue,” he added.
Diesel deal and criticism
The decision to suspend the sanctions came a week after Trump said the US signed a deal to buy diesel from Russia to try to lower global fuel prices.
Both Republicans and Democrats criticised the deal, saying it would help Russia’s war effort without affecting fuel prices.
Democratic Representative Don Beyer said he and other politicians had “warned” that Trump might do this, referring to Trump’s deal with Moscow.
Beyer called on Congress to “fix this flawed law to stop Trump from capitulating to Putin and ensure that it truly supports Ukraine”.
Trump recently has also increasingly criticised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for failing to reach a deal with Russia.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Oleksandr Merezhko, the chairman of the Ukrainian parliament’s Committee on Foreign Policy and Interparliamentary Cooperation, linked Trump’s latest moves, which put Ukraine at a disadvantage, to next month’s midterm elections in the US and predicted an improvement in relations after the voting.
“President Trump is a difficult partner, but we are dependent on the United States, and we need to have constructive, respectful relations even with Trump, no matter how difficult it might be,” he said.
“I believe that after the midterm elections, the situation will be better, the emotions will subside and we will be able to return to constructive dialogue with President Trump,” Merezhko added.
Polls have suggested that Trump’s Republican Party will have a hard time keeping its majorities in Congress in the November 3 elections due to voters disapproving of Trump’s handling of the US-Israel war on Iran and blaming him for higher prices.
