White House seeks plan for possible Russian sanctions relief

The US is working on a plan to possibly ease sanctions on Russia as President Donald Trump seeks to restore relations with Moscow and stop the war in Ukraine, US officials with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, on Monday, the 3rd of March, reports the agency.
The White House has asked the State Department and Treasury Department to prepare a list of sanctions that could be eased so that US officials can discuss them with Russian representatives in the coming days.
This is part of the administration’s broader talks with Moscow on improving diplomatic and economic relations, the sources said.
Officials are currently working on a proposal to lift sanctions on certain companies and individuals, including some Russian oligarchs, the sources said.
A recent request from the White House suggests that Trump’s team is open to easing Russian sanctions in order to reach a possible deal. However, it is not clear what the US would like to get in return.
It is also unclear which sanctions against Russia the Trump administration will consider lifting first.
The White House, the State Department, the State Treasury and the Russian embassy in Washington have not commented.
The Kremlin last year described relations with the US as “below zero”. The Joe Biden administration backed Ukraine and imposed tough sanctions on Russia to punish it for invading in 2022.
But Trump, who promised a quick end to the war when he took office, quickly reversed US policy by launching talks with a call to Russian President Vladimir Putin, followed by meetings between US and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
US sanctions against Russia have included measures aimed at limiting revenues from the country’s huge oil and gas industry and weakening its ability to finance war.
Trump threatened in January to step up sanctions against Russia if Putin is unwilling to agree on ending the war in Ukraine. But recently, Trump administration officials have openly acknowledged the possibility of easing sanctions against Moscow.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in an interview with Bloomberg on the 20th of February that Russia’s sanctions could be eased depending on how it negotiates in the coming weeks. Trump told reporters on the 26th of February that Russian sanctions could be eased “at some point”.
Since 2022, Russia has been able to sustain a wartime economy by increasing military spending and industrial production. But experts say the country’s economy is vulnerable and in dire need of Western sanctions relief.
Russia says it is open to economic cooperation. The Kremlin said last week that Russia has plenty of rare earth metals and is open to making deals to extract them.
Trump has been seeking mineral deal with Ukraine, which has deposits of lithium and rare earths, in return for billions of dollars in US aid. However, no deal was signed on Friday after a heated meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office.