A Month After Signing the Russia Sanctions Law, Trump Announces Putin Will Release Millions of Tons of Diesel and Treasury Waives Sanctions on It Until April 2027 — "Lower Prices for Americans … Is My Greatest Priority" — While Zelensky Calls It "an Obvious Weakness" and Don Beyer Says Trump "Isn't the Slightest Bit Trustworthy When It Comes to Russia"

October 9, 2026

On Oct. 9, 2026, with diesel near record prices four weeks before the midterms, President Trump announced on Truth Social that after a conversation with Vladimir Putin, Russia would release more than 300,000 tons of diesel onto the world market immediately, 500,000 tons in November, a million tons "immediately thereafter," and another 3 million tons "within a short period of time." The same day, Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a temporary general license authorizing the sale, delivery and importation of Russian-origin diesel, including into the United States, through April 7, 2027. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Moscow would begin lifting the diesel export ban it had imposed in July. The move came less than a month after Trump signed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, most of whose provisions take effect Oct. 18. It also came hours after Volodymyr Zelensky hosted a U.S. Senate delegation in Kyiv, and as envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Ukrainian officials in Miami. Zelensky said easing sanctions without a lasting de-escalation agreement was "an obvious weakness" that would prolong the war.