The Treasury Department did not respond to Politico’s request for comment about the end of the waiver but pointed to a March statement from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who called the exemption a “short-term” measure.
At the same time, the report notes that Moscow still has plenty of tools to sell its oil.
“Even before the license was issued, sanctioned Russian oil was finding its way to market because the Trump administration had not imposed any Russia counter-evasion sanctions, whether on oil sales or on critical procurement for the Kremlin’s war machine, in more than a year,” an unnamed Senate source told Politico.
Ukraine’s presidential representative on sanctions, Vladyslav Vlasiuk, said that Kyiv supports the U.S. decision not to renew the waiver.
“Reducing Russia’s revenues from oil and gas is a key instrument in advancing peace efforts,” he said.
On March 12, the United States issued a limited
license that allowed countries to buy some Russian oil and petroleum products
already at sea.