Story By Arpan Rai | Ukrainian officials welcomed Donald Trump’s threat to sanction Russia harder, suggesting punitive measures against Russian oil and gas could run down Vladimir Putin’s war machinery.
Vladyslav Vlasiuk, sanctions commissioner for president Volodymyr Zelensky, told The Independent there were at least 10 areas Mr Trump can look at to sanction Russia in the coming months.
“These can be Russia’s fintech sector, companies involved in the development of e-ruble, central bank digital currency used as an alternative to the SWIFT international payment system Russia is already cut off from, and cryptocurrency payment systems,” he said.
Mr Trump said he had no desire to hurt Russia but asked Mr Putin to “settle now and stop this ridiculous war”. “If we don’t make a ‘deal’, and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of taxes, tariffs, and sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the US, and various other participating countries,” the news US president said on his Truth Social platform.
Mr Trump had promised to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of assuming the presidency for a second term, though not the Russian invasion. Instead, he came out with a threat to further sanction one of the most heavily sanctioned nations.
The US president could follow through by targeting enablers of the “shadow fleet” utilised by Russia to export oil and gas such as insurance, crewing and financial settlement companies that provide any kind of services to it, Mr Vlasiuk suggested.
According to the EU, a shadow or dark fleet is a collection of ships used to circumvent sanctions, evade compliance with safety or environmental regulations, avoid insurance costs or engage in other illegal activities.
According to the European parliament, shadow tankers transporting Russian crude variously fly the flags of Cook Islands, Gabon, Liberia, Eswatini, Malta, Panama, Marshall Islands, and Russia itself.
The US could also deliver a major blow to Russia by lowering oil prices. “Lower oil prices will hit the Russian budget really hard. In December 2024, Russian trade surplus was the lowest since 2020. If Donald Trump restores the effectiveness of the price cap for Russian oil, Russian federal budget losses will be even greater,” Mr Vlasiuk said.
Oil was Russia’s chief export to the US before the trade zeroed out in 2023.
Additionally, Mr Vlasiuk said the US and Ukraine could build pressure to sanction third-nation intermediaries that facilitated the supply of dual-use goods.
Mr Trump could hit out at Russian allies like Iran and North Korea as well after drumming up domestic support for such measures, he said.
Just before Joe Biden left office as president on 20 January, the US Treasury said it was expanding sanctions on some 100 entities supporting the Russian war effort.
Svitlana Romanko, a prominent Ukrainian peace and clean energy campaigner, said Mr Trump had the chance to take up a historic opportunity to end the war in an efficient way. The president could sanction Russia’s fossil fuel exports, cutting its profits by 40 to 50 per cent.
“By decisively cutting off Russian energy revenues from fossil fuels, the US can lead the world in pressuring Moscow to end its aggression and support Ukraine’s fight for sovereignty,” the founder of Razom We Stand clean energy campaign group told The Independent.
“President Trump’s administration can look beyond sanctions enforcement. He can target legal tracking and impose criminal liability measures for these tankers owners, but also on checking those tankers specifically.
“The greatest humanity lesson to learn for everyone on the planet is how we can tackle fossil fuel dictatorships and how we avoid them from happening in the future.
“We should not buy energy that feeds dictatorships, police apparatus and oppression and human rights abuse in many countries, including my country, which is destroyed by Russia’s war.”
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