As White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said, Donald Trump did not apply tougher sanctions against Russia because he is seeking to achieve peace between Moscow and Kyiv.
According to her words, cited by the Axios portal, if the sanctions provisions had been applied now, this would have hindered current US efforts aimed at concluding a durable and comprehensive peace agreement.
At the same time, Rogers noted: Trump reserves the right to use the relevant powers at any moment if this would serve "national interests."
Earlier the same day, the US president ordered that part of the measures provided for by the law on "hellish sanctions" against Russia and Iran not be applied. This refers to the bill by the late Senator Lindsey Graham*, which was supposed to take effect tomorrow.
Thus, the head of the White House declined a tariff of up to 500 percent on direct imports from Russia and up to 100 percent on goods from the five largest countries purchasing energy resources from Moscow, as well as restrictions against officials, banks and organizations provided for by this law.
Last Friday, Trump held a telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin, following which he announced a large-scale agreement on diesel fuel supplies. For this, the US Treasury issued an exemption from sanctions valid until April 7.
The next day, the Russian government partially lifted the ban on exports of this fuel. According to Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, in October Moscow is ready to supply 300,000 tons of diesel to the American and world markets, in November another 500,000, and in December up to one million.
As Trump noted, the deal is needed not only by the US but by the whole world: thanks to it, prices for this type of fuel will begin to fall at record rates.
* Added by Rosfinmonitoring to the list of terrorists and extremists.