Russia and US discussing sanctions relief for Moscow's sovereign wealth fund, Kremlin aide says

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration and the Kremlin are discussing the possible lifting of U.S. sanctions on Russia's multibillion-dollar sovereign wealth fund, Russian state media quoted a Kremlin aide as saying, in what would be another U.S. concession to Moscow in negotiations to end its war in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters that talks with the United States to lift sanctions on the state-owned Russian Direct Investment Fund, or RDIF, have been "going on for some time," Russian state news agency TASS reported on Wednesday.

"What the outcome will be, I do not know," he added.

The fund's CEO and presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev was actively engaging American officials on lifting the sanctions, Ushakov said.

A U.S. official said Dmitriev "has been a helpful envoy to U.S. negotiators in discussions" to end the war in Ukraine.

"The administration is undergoing its normal process in assessing RDIF's de-listing application in an effort to improve U.S.-Russia relations and help end the war," the official said.

The Biden administration imposed the sanctions in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, calling it a "known slush fund" for Putin and his inner circle.

The New York Times first reported on Tuesday that the Trump administration was considering lifting the sanctions.

President Donald Trump has defended recent concessions made to Russia on sanctions, which have triggered criticism from both sides of the aisle in Washington and driven a wedge between the U.S. and its Western allies.

Earlier this month, Trump announced a deal to allow Russian diesel exports to global energy markets and waived a further slate of sanctions related to Russian fossil fuel sales that had only just been signed into law.

The forestalled legislation would have imposed tariffs of up to 100% on, among other things, goods brought into the U.S. from the five largest importers of Russian crude oil or gas, the sale of which is crucial to funding the Kremlin's war machine.

The U.S.-Russia diesel deal involves suspending fuel export sanctions for six months to allow for diesel sales at market prices, but experts have cast doubt on the impact it will have on global diesel markets.

Russia banned exports of diesel in early July, after Ukrainian drone strikes on its refineries triggered widespread fuel shortages across the country.

The White House is trying to relieve pressure on oil and diesel prices in the U.S. ahead of crucial midterm elections next week.

Trump has also said his decision to waive some sanctions on Russia was to keep Moscow at the negotiating table.

"I am in the process of negotiating Peace in the war between Russia and Ukraine, and don't want to do anything that will drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Oct. 18.

Trump has blamed high global fuel prices on Ukraine, and heaped pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky to halt strikes on Russian refineries even as Russia continues its attacks on Ukraine's towns, cities and energy infrastructure.

There is growing anxiety in Kyiv and Europe that the Trump administration will make further concessions to Moscow in an effort to get Putin to agree to a peace deal.

Zelensky recently told NBC's "Meet the Press" that the waivers strengthened Putin's war against Ukraine while Moscow was failing on the battlefield.

Kyiv has long advocated for tougher sanctions on Russian energy exports.

Last week, Putin said the Kremlin would be ready to resume trilateral Russia-U.S.-Ukraine peace talks after mid-November, at the request of U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, who met the Russian leader in St. Petersburg. During the talks, Putin expressed interest in restoring economic cooperation with the U.S.

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