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A first tanker to transport Russian diesel to the United States under a new import deal, the Kremlin said on Friday, two weeks after President Donald Trump said he had made a deal with President Vladimir Putin despite Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
“The first oil tanker has driven to customers, and regular supplies will continue,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said without elaborating.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said earlier this week that the first shipment would amount to 40,000 tons of diesel, according to Russia’s Interfax news agency.
Naval intelligence firm Kpler said the ship signaled it was headed to New York to arrive on Nov. 7 and would be the first Russian diesel delivery to the United States since July 2023.
The abrupt reversal of US sanctions policy against Russia over its invasion of its neighbor was seen as an attempt by Trump to address high fuel prices ahead of the midterm elections.
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The diesel shipment of 40,000 tons is equivalent to about 300,000 barrels, or about 7% of the roughly 4 million barrels of diesel that the US economy consumes in a single day.
The import deal, which Trump says will see millions more tons of Russian diesel reaching the United States in the coming months, is unlikely to make a dent in painfully high prices at the pump or elsewhere, energy policy experts say.
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Russian diesel production is under pressure from repeated Ukrainian long-range drone strikes on its oil refineries. The attacks caused fuel shortages, which have now been alleviated. Trump last month asked Kyiv to stop the attacks.
The US diesel decision caused alarm and disappointment in Ukraine, which pleaded with foreign countries to tighten sanctions on Moscow and deny it income for its invasion, which was launched in February 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Trump’s decision “a weak decision by strong partners.”
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The diesel deal was a sudden political reversal, coming just weeks after Trump signed into law a major sanctions package that required him to impose up to 100% tariffs on the top five importers of Russian oil or natural gas. He later stopped the measures.
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The development is the latest twist in the sometimes volatile relationship between Trump and Zelenskyy, which has reached a new low in recent weeks.
Moscow airport near, and other developments
Meanwhile, Russia’s civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, said Friday afternoon that all four Moscow airports — Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Zhukovsky — had suspended flights for security reasons.
At Sheremetyevo airport, passengers were told to take shelter, Russian news agency Interfax reported. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said air defenses shot down 17 Ukrainian drones that targeted the Russian capital.
Meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine exchanged hundreds of prisoners of war for the first time since August.
The Russian Defense Ministry said each side released 270 prisoners. Ukraine said 270 of its soldiers and civilians had been freed, most of them held captive since 2022.
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