Rubio described Trump’s decision to ease sanctions against Russia for "diesel deal" as "very wise"

The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has endorsed Donald Trump’s decision to temporarily lift some of the sanctions against Russia relating to the ‘diesel deal’, describing the President’s decision as entirely justified.

This was reported by Censor.NET, citing the NTV channel .

Why does the US need Russian diesel?

As the US Secretary of State explained, this move is aimed at saturating the global energy market and stabilising prices. According to Rubio, Washington is seeking to analyse how restrictions and tariffs are affecting the global and US domestic economies, particularly through the import of certain volumes of Russian diesel.

"I consider the President’s decision to allow additional energy supplies to the global market for a short period to be very wise," Rubio said.

He also added that this move could benefit not only other countries but also the United States itself, which is facing high diesel fuel prices.

According to Rubio, Russian diesel would have entered the global market anyway, regardless of Washington’s decision. It is therefore also important to determine what share of these supplies the US will be able to secure.

Reasons for the rise in energy prices

Rubio cited several key reasons for the rise in energy prices: tensions surrounding Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, Houthi attacks on targets in Saudi Arabia, and strikes on the energy infrastructure in the context of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

He emphasised that the Trump team needs a 60-day pause to conduct a detailed analysis of how sanctions and tariffs will affect the economies of the United States and the world. This will allow Washington to assess the risks to global fuel markets more accurately.

The US-Russia diesel deal and threats to 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 the US and global markets.
According to him, Russia will "immediately" supply over 300,000 tonnes of diesel to the US and global markets, a further 500,000 tonnes in November, and another million tonnes "immediately afterwards".
The US Treasury Department 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, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described Russia’s authorisation to sellpetroleum products asan "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 strike Russian oil refineries.
On 11 October, President Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine would be prepared to halt strikes on Russian oil refineries if Russia ceased its attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
On the same day, US President Donald Trump announced the start of an energy truce between Ukraine and Russia.
In comments 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.
Later, the president stated that Ukraine was prepared to refrain from striking at Russian energy infrastructure, provided that Russia took similar steps.