Despite protests from Ukraine, a tanker carrying Russian diesel fuel to the United States under a new import agreement set sail, the Kremlin said Friday, two weeks after Trump said he had struck a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin despite Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
As AFN has reported, the deal appears to be an attempt by the Trump administration to lower gas prices ahead of the November midterm elections. But it has sparked outrage even among Republican senators, including Katie Britt of Alabama, who believes the president should continue pressuring Russia through the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act.
Britt is a longtime Republican ally of Trump, who endorsed her successful 2022 Senate campaign in Alabama. However, her support for the Graham Act and her strong preference for using economic sanctions to advance a "peace through strength" foreign policy make her public break with the president over the Russian diesel deal unsurprising. By criticizing the deal, Britt is defending legislation she actively helped pass.
Her position also aligns with a broader, bipartisan group of Senate Republicans, including Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and John Cornyn of Texas, who have condemned easing economic pressure on Russia.
After the measure cleared Congress last month, Trump signed it into law, expanding U.S. economic sanctions against Russia through severe asset freezes, transaction bans and high tariffs. The law also extended the Iran Sanctions Act until 2031.
However, the president retains waiver authority over the restrictions, and he invoked it through an executive order shortly after the law's passage to allow the diesel deal to proceed.
Knowing a wing of the Republican Party is anti-Putin and anti-Russia, American Values President Gary Bauer is "not surprised that some Republicans want to speak up about this."
"On the other hand, the president, who is also under attack because he's being blamed for the affordability issue in America, is always looking for a way to bring prices down," Bauer adds. "Whether we get some diesel from Russia is not going to determine whether or not the war between Russia and Ukraine goes on."
Bauer also wants Republicans to remember that Trump has spent years pursuing a negotiated settlement to end the war, including a peace framework with security guarantees for Ukraine and postwar reconstruction, while pressuring both sides toward a ceasefire and offering Russia economic incentives to encourage an agreement.
"There are rumors right now that there may be things happening behind the scenes that this Ukraine-Russia war — which is bad for Europe, it's bad for the United States, it's bad for energy costs — may be on the way to reaching some sort of an end, which would end the unbelievable carnage that has taken place over the last four years," Bauer relays.
The prospect of ending the war hinges on a new U.S.-led peace proposal brokered by special envoy Steve Witkoff. The initiative recently led to tentative agreements for trilateral talks and reports of a possible temporary ceasefire, though significant disagreements over territorial sovereignty in the Donbas region remain.
