Pistorius on ’diesel deal’: It’s all down to intense domestic pressure on Trump

Pistorius revealed the reason behind the diesel deal between the US and Russia

The German Defence Minister, Boris Pistorius, believes that the diesel deal between the US and Russia is the result of significant domestic political pressure on Trump.

This is reported by Censor.NET, citing dpa.

Details

According to Pistorius, Trump has found himself "backed into a corner", as there are only a few weeks left until the US mid-term elections.

"History shows that when leaders face domestic pressure, they seek a way out through foreign policy," said Pistorius, adding that Trump’s move would have the opposite effect.

The US-Russia diesel deal and threats against Ukraine

On 9 October, US President Donald Trump stated that he had spoken with the Russian dictator Putin, with whom he had agreed on the supply of diesel fuel from Russia to markets in the US and around the world.
According to him, Russia will "immediately" supply more than 300,000 tonnes of diesel to the US and global markets, a further 500,000 tonnes during November, and another million tonnes "immediately afterwards".
The US Department of the Treasury announced that, on Trump’s instructions, the Office of Foreign Assets Control is immediately issuing a temporary general licence to permit the supply of Russian diesel fuel to the global market.
In response, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, described Russia’s authorisation to sell petroleum products as an "investment in war" and called on the US to hold firm talks with Moscow and impose sanctions under the Lindsey Graham Act.
Axios reported that, during talks in Miami, US President’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner allegedly warned the Ukrainian side that access to US intelligence might be cut off if Ukraine continued to carry out strikes on Russian oil refineries.
On 11 October, President Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine would be prepared to halt attacks on Russian oil refineries if Russia stopped striking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
On the same day, US President Donald Trump announced the start of an energy truce between Ukraine and Russia.
In a comment to Axios, Zelenskyy said that US President Donald Trump’s announcement of the start of an "energy truce" came as a surprise to the Ukrainian side.
The President later stated that Ukraine was prepared to refrain from striking at Russia’s energy sector, provided that Russia took similar steps.