White House seeks plan for possible Russia sanctions relief, sources say
The White House has asked the State and Treasury departments to draft a list of sanctions that could be eased for U.S. officials to discuss with Russian representatives in the coming days as part of the administration's broad talks with Moscow on improving diplomatic and economic relations, the sources said.
The sanctions offices are now drawing up a proposal for lifting sanctions on select entities and individuals, including some Russian oligarchs, according to the sources.
So-called options papers are often drafted by officials working on sanctions, but the White House's specific request for one in recent days underscores Trump and his advisers' willingness to ease Russian sanctions as part of a potential deal with Moscow.
It was not immediately clear what Washington could specifically seek in return for any sanctions relief.
The White House, the State Department, the Treasury Department and the Russian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
U.S. sanctions on Russia since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine have included measures aimed at limiting revenues from the country's huge oil and gas industry and weakening its ability to fund the war.
Trump in January threatened to ramp up sanctions on Russia if Putin was unwilling to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine. But more recently, Trump administration officials have openly acknowledged the possibility of easing sanctions on Moscow.
ECONOMIC COOPERATION
The White House asked State and Treasury officials to devise a possible sanctions relief plan before Trump last week extended a state of emergency over the situation in Ukraine, the U.S. sources said.
The state of emergency sanctions certain assets and people involved in Russia's war. Those measures, imposed by then-President Barack Obama's administration, have been in place since March 2014, when Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea.
It is unclear which Russian sanctions the Trump administration would consider lifting first.
Trump could issue an executive order that would allow the administration to begin the process of easing some Russian sanctions, but he would also need to seek congressional approval to lift measures on certain entities, said John Smith, a partner at Morrison Foerster law firm and the former head of the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Since 2022, Russia has been able to build a wartime economy with increased military spending and industrial production. But experts say the country's economy is vulnerable and in desperate need of Western sanctions relief.
Any formal economic deal with Moscow would likely require the U.S. to ease sanctions.
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Reporting by Erin Banco, additional reporting by Timothy Gardner, editing by Michelle Nichols and Deepa Babington
Erin Banco is a national security correspondent focusing on the intelligence community. She covers everything from the wars in Ukraine and Gaza to U.S. covert operations overseas. She previously worked at POLITICO as a national security reporter. Banco has a long history covering the Middle East region, from Cairo to Baghdad to Aleppo where she’s reported on the Arab Spring and its aftermath, including the civil war in Syria and the rise of ISIS. Her 2017 book, Pipe Dreams, focuses on the development of the oil and gas industry in the northern Kurdistan region of Iraq. Banco attended The University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she majored in Arabic and journalism. She earned a master’s in public administration from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs in 2014.