OREANDA-NEWS  The European Commission rejects the idea of the United States resuming gas purchases from Russia as part of a settlement plan in Ukraine, said Paula Pinho, head of the EC press service, at a briefing in Brussels.

"Our position remains unchanged. EC President Ursula von der Leyen earlier explicitly stated that she would not lift a single restriction against Russia until the war was completely over," she said.
 
Pinho recalled that the EU summit on October 15-16 "expressed disappointment" with the US decision to ease restrictions against Moscow and start buying Russian diesel.
 
Earlier, The New York Times newspaper, citing sources, reported that the administration of US President Donald Trump, as a key element of the plan to ensure peace in Ukraine, wants to invite the EU to resume the purchase of Russian gas. Allegedly, according to the plan of the American side, Europe should resume purchases of Russian gas in much larger volumes.

On Saturday, the US president ordered not to apply part of the measures provided for by the law on "hellish sanctions" against Russia and Iran. We are talking about the bill of the late Senator Lindsey Graham*, which was supposed to enter into force today. He waived tariffs of up to 500 percent on direct imports from Russia and up to 100 percent on goods from the five largest energy—buying countries in Moscow, as well as restrictions against officials, banks and organizations provided for by this law.

Last week, Trump held a telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin, following which he announced a large-scale agreement on the supply of diesel fuel. To do this, the United States Treasury issued an exception to the sanctions, valid until April 7.

The next day, the Russian government partially lifted the ban on the export of this fuel. According to Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, Moscow is ready to supply 300,000 tons of diesel to the American and global markets in October, 500,000 more in November, and up to a million in December. As Trump noted, the deal is needed not only by the United States, but also by the whole world: thanks to it, prices for this type of fuel will begin to decline at a record pace.