Putin's advisor on Trump's decision: A historic moment

“The suspension of the Graham Act by the Trump administration is an important and truly historic moment,” Putin adviser Kirill Dmitriev wrote on the X platform.

On Friday, Trump lifted some sanctions and tariffs against Russia that resulted from the so-called Lindsey Graham Act. The president stated that he was doing it for the national interest of the United States.

What did the Lindsey Graham Act involve?

The bill named after the late Senator Graham was passed by Congress and signed into law by Trump in September.

The act codified existing sanctions against Russia and encouraged the US president to impose new ones, including: to a shadow fleet of obsolete ships that Russia uses to export its oil and gas bypassing Western sanctions.

This solution also allowed for the imposition of up to 100 percent on the countries of the top five largest importers of Russian oil and gas, as well as those that enable it to bypass oil restrictions the most. The act also regulated the issue of imposing 500 percent tariffs on goods imported to the US from Russia itself.

Sharp criticism after Trump's previous decision

Trump's decision came a week after he announced an agreement with Russia on October 9 for the supply of 300,000. tons of Russian diesel oil to the US market and other countries. It assumes increasing the export of this fuel to 500,000. tons in November and twice as much in the following months.

The deal means the lifting of some sanctions on Russian diesel exports and sparked sharp criticism from both US parties, Ukraine and all EU members at a summit this week in Brussels.