Washington: The United States on Tuesday said it would like to end the sanction waivers granted to countries purchasing Russian oil, contending that these measures were time-limited to ease global supplies in the wake of the Iran war.
Testifying before the Senate Foreign Policy Committee, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the ultimate decision regarding the Russian waiver would be made by the Department of Treasury.
“We would like to end it as soon as we possibly can because the underlying policy of this country has been to sanction their oil. These are time-limited waivers for the purpose of opening up more global supply,” Rubio told the Committee.
In March this year, the Trump administration issued two 30-day licences which allowed the purchase of previously sanctioned Russian and Iranian energy. The licences were intended to allow greater energy supplies to flow into the global market and ease prices that rose swiftly after the United States and Israel launched military strikes on Iran in late February. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent subsequently announced in April that Washington would not renew the two licences. Ultimately, a new general licence was issued allowing energy purchases from Russia while ending the licence allowing the purchase of Iranian energy.
The US Treasury’s decision came after numerous reports that officials from Asian nations, including India, were pushing Washington to extend the general licences. India has subsequently increased its energy purchases from Russia. According to reports citing data from analytics firm Kpler, Indian oil imports from Russia jumped by 23% to 1.9 million barrels per day in May. Indian refiners like Reliance had previously wound down their purchases from Russian suppliers like Rosneft and Lukoil due to US sanctions against these energy majors.
For its part, New Delhi has maintained that its energy purchase decisions are dictated by market conditions and the need to secure energy for India’s 1.4 billion people. “As far as energy sourcing is concerned, we have told you on several occasions what our policy is. It is based on meeting the requirements of our 1.4 billion people as also the market conditions and the global situation that is available. That continues to be our policy as far as energy sourcing is concerned. There has been no change,” said Randhir Jaiswal, official spokesperson of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, in April.
However, the Trump administration’s decision to extend the general licences allowing the purchase of Russian energy have proven controversial within America. US Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who is the ranking Democratic lawmaker on the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, pressed Rubio on the issue of the general licence during the latter’s testimony on Tuesday. Shaheen argued that the licence had significantly benefited the Russian economy, which relies significantly on energy exports, and geopolitical rivals like China.
