Trump's "Russian Diesel Deal" Draws Immediate EU Backlash: "It Will Only Fund the War"

EU Approves Additional Sanctions on Russia at Foreign Ministers' Meeting

The European Union (EU) has pushed back after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would allow Russian diesel supplies and ease sanctions on Russia. The EU has signaled its intention to maintain pressure, taking a sharply different course from the Trump Administration, including by imposing sweeping sanctions targeting Russia's military industry.

According to Bloomberg and Politico on October 12 (local time), EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas told reporters ahead of the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg that day, "We urge the United States to enforce sanctions [against Russia] so that we can end this war and address the consequences of attacks on refineries."

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas speaks with reporters ahead of the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg on the 12th (local time). Luxembourg=EPA Yonhap News.

Trump said on October 9 that he was working with Russian President Vladimir Putin to supply Russian diesel to the global market. The move has been interpreted as an effort to ease voters' discontent over soaring fuel prices ahead of the U.S. midterm elections in November. It has also drawn criticism that it could undermine the international community's years-long policy of sanctions against Russia.

Before the meeting that day, Gunther Krichbaum, Germany's Minister of State for Europe at the Federal Foreign Office, also criticized the move, saying, "Every euro and dollar that flows to Russia in payment for energy purchases will be used to produce new weapons to attack Ukraine."

Bloomberg reported that these U.S. moves are hindering the EU's efforts to intensify economic pressure on Russia. It said that if the United States eases sanctions, the international community's pressure on Russia could become less effective.

Meanwhile, the EU approved sweeping additional sanctions targeting Russia's military industry that day. According to Politico, EU foreign ministers agreed at a meeting in Luxembourg that day to add about 1,600 individuals and companies linked to Russia's military industry to the sanctions list. This is the largest expansion of a single sanctions list since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The sanctions are reportedly focused on weakening Russia's capacity to produce ballistic missiles. Kallas said on social media, "More than half of the newly sanctioned entities are linked to the ballistic missile production network," adding that the measures are making it "much more difficult, slower, and more expensive for Russia to produce the weapons it uses to kill Ukrainians."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.