Lankford Says Suspended Russia Sanctions Won't Mean U.S. Buys Russian Diesel

U.S. Sen. James Lankford said the suspension of sanctions on Russian diesel exports does not mean the United States will start buying that fuel. Speaking before the Tulsa Regional Chamber, he said President Trump acted in the interest of national security, a step the legislation that created the sanctions allows.

Lankford did not directly criticize the suspension, and he did not say he supported it. He voted in September for the Lindsey Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act, but the president has since suspended most of the sanctions in the law.

Lankford described the reasoning behind the move this way: the president wants Russia to put more products on the market in order to push global prices down. "You can agree or disagree with that; I just don't think the US should ever buy their products," he said. He added that the effort should not directly affect the United States, because it is against the law for the country to buy Russian oil.

In Lankford's view, the U.S. would not purchase Russian diesel but could still benefit from lower prices if more of it reaches world markets.

Karl Ahlgren, the Honorary Ukrainian Consul for Oklahoma, sharply criticized the decision. He argued that it lets Russia earn more revenue that it can use to wage war in Ukraine, and he said that feeding the Russian economy through the sale and purchase of its diesel puts the country on the wrong side of history.

Ahlgren said he read the president's action as an executive order that nullifies sanctions on Russian energy supplies and on the countries that buy them. "The only exclusion he made with the waiver that he signed last Friday was Iran," he said. "And so I take that as a clear sign that the President is interested in buying Russian energy, in particular diesel."

Many energy analysts dispute the idea that the suspension will have a significant effect on diesel prices. Among the critics is Alan Armstrong, identified in the report as an Oklahoma U.S. senator. He was one of a dozen senators who wrote to the president, telling him the decision "only provides Putin with more fuel to finance his war machine and enables Russia to continue its brutal attacks on Ukrainian civilians."

The exchange shows the disagreement over the waiver. Lankford presents it as a market strategy that stops short of U.S. purchases of Russian fuel, while its critics say the main result will be more money for Moscow as the war in Ukraine continues.