More countries are joining the purchase of Russian oil, celebrated today by Russia's special envoy to the United States, Kiril Dmitriev. “More and more countries are starting to buy Russian oil in the context of the easing of U.S. sanctions on fuels,” commented Dmitriev on Telegram. The country that most recently joined the purchases of that fuel is Thailand, reported this Friday by the site Sputnik News, consulted by the Argentine News Agency in its usual tour of international headlines. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that the United States was granting a “temporary authorization” for countries to buy oil “currently stranded at sea” from Russia. According to the report, this measure, which will be “of limited scope and short-term,” aims to “expand the global reach of the existing supply” and applies only to oil that is already in transit. “The President of the United States is taking decisive action to promote stability in global energy markets and working to keep prices low while we address the threat and instability posed by the Iranian terrorist regime,” Bessent emphasized. Bessent added that “a temporary increase in oil prices is a temporary disruption that, in the long term, will greatly benefit” the U.S. economy. The measure received some international criticism for considering that this could benefit Russian President Vladimir Putin while the conflict in Ukraine continues, according to a publication in Newsweek Argentina. But Bessent assured that the purchase of oil stranded at sea “will not provide significant financial benefits to the Russian government.” The Treasury issued a license authorizing the sale of Russian crude oil and petroleum products that were loaded onto ships as of 12:01 AM on March 12 or earlier, until April 11, details the site dw. “The United States is, in practice, recognizing the obvious: without Russian oil, the global energy market cannot remain stable,” expressed Dmitriev, considered by some media as “Putin's special representative in negotiations with Ukraine.” The official stressed that this will allow the “lifting of all restrictions on approximately 100 million barrels of Russian oil in transit.” Criticism of “Brussels bureaucracy” “Amid the growing energy crisis, a further easing of restrictions on Russian energy sources seems increasingly inevitable, despite the resistance of some members of Brussels bureaucracy,” he stated. In turn, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov analyzed this Friday: “The suspension of U.S. measures imposed on Russian oil will contribute to the stabilization of energy markets, shaken due to the aggression of the United States and Israel against Iran.” “We have heard statements from U.S. representatives that these exceptions now apply to oil loaded up to March 12. But it has also been stated that, in general, that country has no plans to lift any oil sanctions against Russia,” the spokesman said in his conversation with the press. In the same vein, Peskov expressed that the conflict in the Middle East could cause a crisis in the global energy sector, so Washington's recent decision could, to some extent, ease the situation. “Because without sufficient volumes of Russian oil, market stabilization is impossible,” he stressed, according to statements published by the Actualidad RT site.
