US-RUSSIA: Bessent-US Ready To Ramp Up Or Wind Down Sanctions

Speaking to Bloomberg TV, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says "If we need to, [we] will take off Russia sanctions", adding that the US is "ready for a ramp-up or wind down" of sanctions. His comments come as the EU is moving forward with its 16th package of sanctions on Russia. Permanent representatives approved the latest round - targeting Russian aluminium and its shadow shipping fleet - on 19 Feb, with EU foreign ministers set to give final sign-off on 24 Feb, the third anniversary of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 

• As NYT notes, the unwinding of US sanctions could ease Russia's ability to conduct business abroad if US banks can facilitate transactions in US dollars. However, two-thirds of Russia's overseas assets are held in the EU, and there is little chance of a change in Brussels' stance on trade or energy purchases. The US pursuing a unilateral unwinding of sanctions on Russia would not have the same political leverage as a broader loosening.
• The potential for the US to unwind sanctions on Russia at the same time as the EU is implementing more restrictive measures comes as another signal of the widening and increasingly bitter divergence on the war in Ukraine between Washington, D.C., and European capitals. President Donald Trump's comments regarding Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy on 19 Feb led to the closest many European leaders have come to directly criticising the US president since he came to office one month ago.