Trump eases Russia sanctions, says Putin will release diesel amid massive price spike

President Donald Trump said Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin would “immediately” release hundreds of thousands of tons of diesel fuel onto the global market.

Trump made the announcement on Truth Social and said the action would will help bring diesel prices down.

Since its illegal invasion of Ukraine, wide-ranging sanctions have been applied to Russia. In order to get the diesel fuel moved, the Treasury Department simultaneously announced Friday that it would be easing sanctions on Russia through April 7.

A document posted to the Treasury’s website said that “the sale, delivery, offloading, or importation, including importation into the United States, of diesel fuel of Russian Federation origin are authorized through 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time, April 7, 2027.

Since the start of the Iran war in February, the price of diesel fuel has soared almost 70%, and economists have warned that the price hikes will have wide-ranging inflationary effects on the global economy.

In recent weeks, sharp escalations in the Russia-Ukraine war have caused diesel to spike even further, and for multiple weeks the price of diesel set repeated all-time records.

After multiple Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy assets, the Kremlin in July imposed a diesel fuel export ban. It has extended that through the end of October.

Earlier this year, Trump temporarily eased sanctions on Russia in a bid to slow rising oil prices. That largely did not impact the trajectory of prices, which have continued rising for months.