“Yes, this is 100% a weakening of pressure on Russia and a weakening of pressure on Belarus. Of course, we very much hope that at least our European partners will not lift sanctions,” the head of state said.
On March 19, U.S. presidential special envoy John Cole said Washington is lifting sanctions on Belaruskali, Belinvestbank and the Belarusian Finance Ministry.
In addition, the United States has temporarily exempted from sanctions, until April 11, the sale of Russian oil and petroleum products loaded onto vessels before March 12.
“To expand global availability of already existing supplies, the U.S. Treasury is granting temporary authorization for countries to purchase Russian oil currently stranded at sea. This narrowly tailored, short-term measure applies only to oil already in transit and will not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government, which derives most of its energy revenues from taxes collected at the point of extraction,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.