Kyiv and Moscow give opposing responses to US pause on new Russia sanctions

Ukraine and Russia responded in opposite ways to US President Donald Trump’s executive order of Friday 16 October, which waived many sanctions and tariffs under a new US law aimed at Russia’s energy revenue.

The law, passed by Congress and signed in September, allowed tariffs of up to 100% on imports from the five largest buyers of Russian oil and gas. It also included sanctions on senior Russian figures, banks and the “shadow fleet” of tankers, the BBC reported.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the waiver is a 60-day pause so the President can “analyse what imposing both sanctions and tariffs will mean to the global economy and even to the US economy”.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said lifting the sanctions was “wrong” and “only helps the Russians”, NBC reported. He said he expected more sanctions to be lifted and called last week’s US–Russia diesel deal “the first step”, according to The Guardian.

Kirill Dmitriev, a Russian presidential envoy, called the suspension “an important and truly historic moment”. He said the law would have caused “serious damage” mainly to the US economy and global markets, DW reported.

Zelensky said Ukraine’s chief negotiator, Rustem Umerov, met US envoy Jared Kushner on Friday. He said Washington was working on a possible three-way meeting between himself, Trump and Putin.