US Treasury weighs lifting sanctions on Putin's 'slush fund' to clinch diesel deal

The US Treasury is examining the fund's application for exemption from the sanctions list, according to The Bell, citing the same publication. Russian officials pressed for the restrictions to be lifted as part of broader talks on the fund's role in delivering diesel fuel to the United States, the NYT sources said.

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) proposed acting as an intermediary in those deals and asked in parallel for the measures against it to be eased.

A senior US official confirmed to the newspaper that the application is being considered with a view to improving US-Russian relations and ending the war in Ukraine. He described the fund's head, Kirill Dmitriev, as a useful intermediary for American negotiators.

The US Treasury takes the view that the fund already holds all the permits it needs to work with diesel, and that the application is being handled in the usual order. The RDIF must show that the grounds on which it was listed no longer apply.

The diesel deal itself is proceeding with hitches. According to the NYT, the fuel was shipped to the United States although American buyers have not yet paid for it. The first tanker, the Agioi Fanendes, due to arrive on November 7, has changed its destination from New York to "for orders" - it does not yet know where to unload.

Trump agreed the supplies with Putin on October 9. The same day, the US Treasury issued a licence permitting transactions involving Russian diesel until April 7, 2027. According to Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, three tankers with fuel left for the United States in October, and the RDIF helped with those deliveries.

Kirill Dmitriev has headed the RDIF since 2011. In 2025 he was appointed special representative of the Russian president for investment and economic cooperation with foreign countries. The United States imposed sanctions on the RDIF and on Dmitriev personally on February 28, 2022, four days after the start of the invasion of Ukraine. At the time, the Treasury called the fund Putin's "slush fund" and a symbol of Russian kleptocracy.