Analyst: Russia may offer Trump energy deals in exchange for war delay
Photo: Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin (Getty Images)
Russia may be able to buy the loyalty of the US presidential administration under Donald Trump regarding ending Russia’s war against Ukraine, according to the RBC-Ukraine article “Putin plays his game while Trump stays silent - What Russia's planning against Ukraine.”
As political analyst Abbas Gallyamov told RBC-Ukraine, Russian leader Vladimir Putin does not want to quarrel with Trump because he is afraid of new sanctions or increased arms supplies to Ukraine from the US. In his opinion, Moscow may have bought the loyalty of the new White House team.
“According to a leak from the Kremlin apparatus, at least three major US-Russian projects have already been agreed upon and are at a high stage of readiness following meetings and conversations between Kirill Dmitriev and Steve Witkoff. A fairly wide range of people are involved in them, and they are involved in preparing and working out the details of these projects," Gallyamov says.
The first project is the sale of Russian gas in Europe. As Gallyamov explained, the US plans to buy Russian gas at domestic prices, transport it to Europe via Russian pipelines, and sell it as “American” – at European prices. The profit would go to American companies.
According to Gallyamov, Chevron has been approved as the operator of this project.
“The second project concerns three oil refineries located in Germany, in which Rosneft owns shares. Allegedly, its stakes are planned to be transferred to the same Chevron at an extremely favorable price," the source added.
The third project concerns Vostok Oil, which was once launched by Rosneft to extract oil and gas condensates in the area of the Taymyr Peninsula in the Krasnoyarsk Krai.
The political analyst noted that the cooperation involves supplying oil equipment from Chevron, Halliburton, and several smaller American companies. Russia will pay with crude oil, which will enter global markets as American.
According to the source, Moscow and Washington are also discussing cooperation in nuclear energy, titanium extraction, rare earth metals, and gold.
“They are being prepared by a large number of people in government agencies and state-owned companies - Gazprom, Rosneft, Rosatom, Polyus Gold. Rotenberg and Tokarev from Transneft are also preparing their proposals. All of this goes through the government, among other things, and is eventually collected by the deputy head of the Presidential Administration for Economics, Maxim Oreshkin. And then all of this is sent to Dmitriev, and then to the Americans. Witkoff's last visit to Putin was about this cooperation,” Gallyamov said.
He adds that the implementation of these projects is not necessarily a case of obvious corruption but will bring economic benefits to the US: profits, tax inflows, and new jobs. The political analyst suggests that the Kremlin, in turn, hopes for greater flexibility from Trump regarding the imposition of sanctions or is simply bargaining for a delay in ending hostilities.
Sanctions against Russia
The European Union recently introduced its 17th package of sanctions against Russia – this time targeting the shadow fleet used to circumvent restrictions.
The leaders of France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and other European countries have declared their readiness to increase pressure on the Kremlin if Moscow does not take real steps to end the war.
US President Donald Trump has also confirmed that sanctions against Russia are under consideration. But Washington is currently in no rush to make a decision.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio explained that excessive pressure could cause Russia to derail peace talks.
