Russia Alaska Venture Finds Favour with Trump

[ABS News Service/29.10.2026]

The Administration’s efforts to ease sanctions on Russia could open substantial commercial opportunities for Russian state interests and private investors, combining newly authorized diesel sales with a proposed $25 billion Alaska gas venture and possible relief for the Kremlin’s multibillion-dollar investment fund.

The initiatives place potentially lucrative transactions at the center of Ukraine diplomacy while drawing bipartisan objections that Washington is conceding economic benefits before Moscow agrees to peace.

The administration is reviewing an application to remove sanctions on the Russian Direct Investment Fund, according to press reports. Russian officials sought the relief while offering the fund as an intermediary for diesel shipments and payments. A US official described the review as part of an effort to improve relations and end the war.

RDIF has already helped arrange shipments under Mr. Trump’s diesel agreement, according to Russian officials cited by the Financial Times. Treasury reportedly considers its October 9 authorization sufficient for the fund to handle those transactions, leaving broader sanctions relief to a separate review.

The contemplated relief would reverse a central element of Treasury’s early response to the invasion. In February 2022, Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control blocked RDIF, its management company, a subsidiary and chief executive Kirill Dmitriev. Treasury described the fund as “widely considered a slush fund for President Vladimir Putin” and said Mr. Putin and his associates had used it to raise capital abroad. The action expanded restrictions imposed on the management company’s predecessor in 2015.

The Alaska proposal presents another route to commercial gains. According to accounts of a Financial Times investigation, former Polar Train LNG chief executive Joel Riddle alleged that Russia’s Novatek financed and directed the proposed $25 billion venture before necessary Treasury approvals were obtained.

The project contemplated using Novatek equipment and technology to export Alaskan gas. On advice of counsel, Mr. Riddle and other executives have resigned. Polar Train LNG maintained that its activities complied with US law, and Novatek has denied controlling the venture.

The diesel trade faces a direct conflict over legal authority. OFAC’s General License 135 authorizes transactions involving Russian diesel, including US imports, until April 7, 2027.

But the Ending Importation of Russian Oil Act of 2022 separately prohibits Russian energy imports. Its termination provisions require presidential findings – including a Russian withdrawal and cessation-of-hostilities agreement accepted by Ukraine – along with Congressional consultation and review.

The license does not explain how its authorization satisfies those statutory requirements.