Ex-US Ambassador: Trump’s Russian Diesel Deal Won’t Lower Prices but Will Undermine Peace

Former US Ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer condemned President Donald Trump’s decision to lift sanctions on Russian diesel as “very unwise,” warning in an exclusive interview with Kyiv Post on Friday, Oct. 9, that the move would help finance Moscow’s war machine while undermining Washington’s own efforts to negotiate peace. Pifer, who served as US ambassador to Ukraine from 1998 to 2000, said the agreement would send American money directly into Russia’s economy, enabling the Kremlin to purchase more weapons for its continuing attacks on Ukraine.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. “This is a very unwise decision,” Pifer told Kyiv Post. “First of all, it means that American dollars will be going to purchase Russian fuel, and that’s going to help the Russian military machine buy more missiles and bombs to use against Ukraine.” The former ambassador argued that Trump’s decision was particularly damaging because Washington was supposed to be increasing pressure on Moscow to negotiate an end to its invasion, not offering the Kremlin economic relief. “Second of all, it completely undercuts Trump’s own effort to mediate a solution to the Russia-Ukraine war, at a time when the US should be putting more pressure on Moscow to negotiate seriously,” Pifer said. “In fact, he’s relieving that pressure, because this will make it harder to achieve peace between Russia and Ukraine.” Other Topics of Interest Russian Drones Threaten Kyiv and Multiple Ukrainian Regions in Early Hours of Saturday Air raid warnings spread across Ukraine as Russian jet-powered drones approached several cities, including Lutsk, Mykolaiv and Kremenchuk. Little relief for US fuel prices Pifer, now a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and an affiliate of Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation, also challenged the economic rationale for Trump’s agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin, arguing that the initial diesel shipments were too small to significantly affect US fuel prices. “If you look at the amount of diesel fuel that he hopes to buy – 300,000 tons in October – that amounts to less than one half a day’s consumption of diesel fuel in the United States,” he said. “That’s not going to have that big an impact on the price of diesel.” Trump announced Friday that Russia would immediately supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel to US and global markets, followed by another 500,000 tons in November, 1 million tons afterward and an additional 3 million tons depending on the condition of Russian refineries. The administration subsequently issued a temporary authorization allowing certain transactions involving Russian diesel, reversing restrictions intended to deprive Moscow of energy revenues. The White House has presented the agreement as a way to ease soaring diesel prices for American farmers, truck drivers and consumers. However, energy analysts have questioned whether the additional supplies will produce lasting price reductions, given the scale of American demand and global refining constraints. Pifer expressed hope that the administration might reverse course. “It’s a very unfortunate decision. I hope that there’s a chance that it will be reconsidered,” he said. Will Republicans challenge Trump over Graham sanctions? The former ambassador also questioned how Republican lawmakers would respond to Trump’s decision after Congress passed legislation designed to increase economic pressure on countries purchasing Russian energy. “It will be interesting [to see] the Republicans, who had passed the Graham sanctions bill, which was to apply greater sanctions on countries that buy Russian energy – how they’re going to react when Mr. Trump now says the United States will be buying Russian energy,” Pifer said. Trump’s agreement came just three weeks after he signed the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act into law on Sept. 18. The legislation was intended to expand economic pressure on Russia’s energy sector and financial networks supporting its invasion. The new diesel arrangement has raised questions about the administration’s willingness to enforce those restrictions even as Ukraine continues pressing Washington to cut off Moscow’s war revenues. ‘No evident movement by the Russian side’ Asked about the prospects for the latest US-led peace negotiations, Pifer expressed deep skepticism. The talks were taking place in Florida, where US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were meeting Ukrainian and European officials to explore possible ways to end Russia’s full-scale invasion. One proposal under consideration involved a partial ceasefire covering energy infrastructure. But Pifer expressed little hope for progress, citing Russia’s unwillingness to compromise. “I have not had much expectation that these talks would produce anything, because while Ukraine, I believe, has shown a readiness to make some painful decisions to try to find a compromise to end the war, there has been no evident movement by the Russian side,” he told Kyiv Post. He pointed to previous statements by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as evidence that Moscow had not softened its negotiating demands. “The Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said six weeks ago that Russia’s position had not changed from the one announced by Vladimir Putin in December 2024,” the former US envoy said. “And that suggests that Mr. Witkoff and Mr. Kushner have failed to get the Russians to move on any significant issue.” The former ambassador said he saw little reason for optimism about the current diplomatic process. “So I do not have many hopes for this negotiation process at this point.” Pifer warned that Trump’s decision to ease sanctions would only reinforce Moscow’s resistance to compromise. “This decision makes it even harder, because Moscow sees the US easing pressure rather than pushing the Kremlin to negotiate seriously,” he said. President Zelensky also sharply criticized Washington’s decision, saying Ukraine’s negotiating team in Florida was being used as a “smokescreen” while Trump reached a separate energy agreement with Putin. “I believe our team is simply being used as a smokescreen,” Zelensky said Friday. “And that is definitely unfair. And it is a weak decision by strong partners.”