Trump demands that Europe cut off Russian oil immediately, not in 2028

15 September 08:57

US President Donald Trump has once again called on the European Union to stop buying Russian oil. In his opinion, this is essential for potential US sanctions against Russia to be effective, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.

“Europe – they are my friends. But they buy oil from Russia. We [the US] can’t be the only ones who are expected to give full returns. But Europe buys oil from Russia. I don’t want them to buy it. And the sanctions they are imposing are not tough enough. I’m ready to impose sanctions, but they will have to strengthen their sanctions in line with what I’m doing,”

– trump said.

Thus, he completely shifted the responsibility for the possible anti-Russian sanctions to Europe.

“I’m ready to move forward, but they have to do it too. I think they will. But now they are only talking, not acting. They buy oil from Russia. We do not buy oil from Russia. They buy a lot of oil from Russia. This is not the right agreement,”

– said the US President.

At the same time, he said that the United States is not withdrawing from the “peace process” in the Russian-Ukrainian war.

“There will be negotiations, a summit or just a meeting – it doesn’t matter what it’s called. But I may have to intervene. They [Ukraine and Russia] hate each other so much that they can hardly talk. They are not able to talk to each other,”

– trump said.

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The European Union faces a choice

The European Union is currently considering what to do with Trump’s demands. It is preparing the 19th package of anti-Russian sanctions, and within its framework, the Europeans will try to demonstrate some movement towards the US President. Because the EU is now planning to completely abandon Russian fuel as early as 2028, and this definitely does not suit Trump.

Currently, the EU is buying Russian energy so actively that it is quite possible to talk about financing the Russian military machine. For example, in August 2025 alone, the five largest EU importing countries paid Russia 979 million euros for gas, oil, and coal.

This EU funding of Russia fits perfectly with pro-Ukrainian rhetoric. To make it look less bloodthirsty, a price ceiling mechanism was invented and the price of Russian oil was set at $60 per barrel. This means that any EU state that buys Russian oil can only buy it at this price or lower. Thanks to this mechanism, the EU argues, Europe has Russian energy resources, but Russia’s profits from this are significantly limited.

on September 3, the European Union’s decision to reduce the price ceiling for Russian oil to 47.6 dollars per barrel came into effect.

The European Union traditionally assumes that such a measure will hit Russian oil revenues hard. Instead, according to the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the EU has purchased 213 billion euros worth of energy from Russia. Of this amount, 105 billion euros were paid for oil.