War in Ukraine: The United States puts into perspective the exemption from sanctions against Moscow

Not sure that the statement on Saturday evening by Marco Rubio, the head of American diplomacy, will calm concerns, particularly in Europe. He in fact put Donald Trump's decision to exempt Russia from new sanctions into perspective, ensuring that it was a 60-day pause aimed at "analyzing" their economic repercussions.

A concern that is commensurate with the measures taken. This suspension of the application of measures of a recent law adopted by Congress particularly targeting the Russian energy sector was strongly denounced by Ukraine, aggravating the tensions which have accumulated between kyiv and Washington for a week.

Sixty days to “analyze the effects”

And Marco Rubio clarified that “the president wants to use this 60-day period to, in a way, analyze the effect of both sanctions and customs duties for the global economy, and even the American economy.” The head of American diplomacy also recalled the effect of recent conflicts on energy prices, including the war led by the United States against Iran and the attacks of pro-Iranian Houthi rebels in Yemen against Saudi Arabia. “These conflicts around the world are starting to impact each other and they are having repercussions not only on the international prices of oil and diesel” but more generally on the economy, underlined Marco Rubio.

Remember that Donald Trump's decision was announced by a presidential decree published Friday evening by the White House. It concerns the Graham Act, promulgated in mid-September, which constituted the first major action by Congress against Moscow since the American Republican's return to power. Strongly denounced by kyiv, this exemption comes a few days after an agreement between Washington and Moscow to lift sanctions, in order to allow the United States to import large quantities of Russian diesel.