The end of the Russian company's problems? The US suspends some of the sanctions on Lukoil

The US administration announced on Thursday that it was temporarily suspending some of the sanctions against the Russian oil giant Lukoil to allow the company's fuel stations to continue operating outside Russia.

As written in a statement by the US Ministry of Finance, transactions involving Lukoil gas stations outside Russia are allowed “in order to avoid penalizing” their customers and suppliers, provided that the proceeds are not transferred to Russia.

This relaxation is scheduled to apply until April 29, 2026.

At the end of October, in order to put pressure on Russia and get it to talk about ending the war with Ukraine, the United States placed the two largest Russian oil companies, Lukoil and Rosneft, on the list of entities subject to sanctions.

The sanctions announced then not only cut off both companies from American technologies, but also exposed companies doing business with Russian giants to secondary sanctions.

As AFP notes, the statement from the US Ministry of Finance was issued two days after the meeting in Moscow of Russian leader Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff. The US is taking steps to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, but Kiev's European allies accuse the Trump administration of excessively giving in to Russian demands. (PAP)

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