Bloomberg: US explores adjusting anti-Russian sanctions as talks with Moscow continue

Scott Bessent, US Secretary of the Treasury, has indicated that easing sanctions against Russia could be subject to negotiations on the war in Ukraine, stating that the US is prepared to either strengthen or relax restrictions based on Moscow's willingness to negotiate.

"That’d be a very good characterisation," he said in response to a question about the potential for adjusting sanctions in any direction.

"The president [Trump] is committed to ending this conflict very quickly," Bessent said in an interview with Bloomberg.

Bessent stated that some of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's recent remarks about US President Donald Trump being misinformed about the war in Ukraine were "inappropriate".

He claimed that Zelenskyy had assured him before the Munich Security Conference that Ukraine would sign a US$500 billion deal to transfer rights to Ukrainian minerals but had yet to do so. According to the treasury secretary, this agreement would form the basis for Trump's "elegant" plan to end the war.

"The sequencing of what was going to happen was: bring the Ukrainians closer to the US through economic ties, convince the American people, the American public, get them onside," Bessent said. "And then tell the Russians, go to the negotiating table with a very fulsome message that if we need to, we will take sanctions up."

"The US, with greater economic interest in Ukraine, provides a security shield," he added.

Commenting on the meeting with Russian representatives in Saudi Arabia, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that resolving the conflict between Russia and Ukraine would require compromises from all sides. He also noted that the European Union would eventually "have to be at the table at some point", hinting at a possible lifting of sanctions.

Later Bloomberg wrote, citing sources familiar with the matter, that Rubio assured European allies that the US would maintain sanctions against Russia at least until an agreement to end the Russo-Ukrainian war is reached.