A senior adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin has described US President Donald Trump's decision to suspend key new sanctions against Russia as a “significant and truly historic moment”.
Kirill Dmitriev, a Kremlin adviser on international economic cooperation, praised the move after Trump signed an executive order delaying the implementation of major measures contained in the so-called Graham Act, just two days before they were due to take effect.
“The suspension of the Graham Act by the Trump administration is an important and genuinely historic moment,” Dmitriev said in a social media post.
Sanctions targeted Russian energy revenues
Trump's executive order halted a package of sanctions and tariffs aimed primarily at Russian energy revenues.
The legislation, named after late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, targeted Russia's energy and defence sectors, as well as Putin and other senior Russian officials.
The measures would also have allowed Washington to impose significant tariffs on major importers of Russian oil and gas.
Kremlin yet to respond officially
Neither the Kremlin nor Putin had formally commented on the decision at the time of publication.
However, the development is being widely viewed as a major diplomatic victory for Moscow as the war in Ukraine enters its fifth year.
The move comes amid growing tensions between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and follows a period of uncertainty over future US policy toward Russia and Ukraine.
Dmitriev warns of economic consequences
Dmitriev argued that the sanctions package would have caused “serious damage above all to the American economy and international markets”.
Western countries imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, targeting key sectors of the Russian economy in an effort to limit Moscow's ability to finance the war.
Source: AFP
