The administration of US President Donald Trump has not extended an exemption from the sanctions regime that previously allowed transactions with Russian banks related to energy payments.

Source:European Pravda

Details:The so-called General License 8L from the US Treasury Department, which expired on 12 March, had permitted transactions "related to energy" with 12 sanctioned Russian banks. 

The license specified that the exemption applied to payments for natural gas, oil and petroleum products, coal, uranium and related technologies. Essentially, it enabled Russian banks to process payments for Russian energy exports, particularly oil.

As of midday on 13 March, the license – originally issued by the Biden administration in February 2022 following Russia's full-scale invasion – had not been renewed by Washington.

White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt stated the previous day that Trump had not confirmed the license renewal. No official comments on the matter have followed.

Fox News journalist Jackie Heinrich reported that Trump's administration had not responded for two days regarding the license renewal, suggesting the lapse might have been an oversight. 

However, her colleague Edward Lawrence, citing an anonymous source, claimed that the non-renewal was "a negotiation tactic to end the invasion".

A Fox News source stated that the United States will "continue to implement sanctions which remain one of the key levers" for ending the war in Ukraine.

Background: 

• Last week, US President Donald Trump stated that he was considering imposing broad sanctions and tariffs on Russia over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 
• He also recently reiterated that no one had been as tough on Russia as he had.

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