Rubio explained whether purchasing Russian oil is now acceptable after the U.S. rolled back sanctions

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that, when making decisions on sanctions against Russia, Washington takes into account global energy prices, supply problems, and relations with other countries. He said this in response to a question from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Alex Raufoglu, reports UNN.

Details

Raufoglu asked Rubio whether purchasing Russian energy was now acceptable after sanctions were imposed on India and countries in Central Asia were urged to limit their purchases. In response, the U.S. secretary of state explained that various circumstances influence Washington’s decisions. 

"I know that diesel fuel prices in the United States are high, but in many other countries around the world they are much higher. And we have to take all these circumstances into account. Right now, we are trying to finalize a trade deal with India. We are very close to doing so. So this is one of the factors the president takes into account when making decisions on exemptions from sanctions for reasons of national security and other similar matters. Every country has a complex set of circumstances that it needs to consider. In particular, its geographic location. For some countries, it is very difficult to obtain energy from alternative sources. This is not an excuse, but all these factors need to be taken into consideration when shaping foreign policy," Rubio said.

He also emphasized that Russia’s war against Ukraine remains one of the factors taken into account by U.S. foreign policy.

"U.S. foreign policy, of course, takes into account the war between Russia and Ukraine, but it is not limited exclusively to this issue. We also consider other factors, including bilateral relations with other countries and their actual ability to provide themselves with energy resources. Nor can we destroy the economies of other countries because of one key issue. That is the difficulty of finding a balance among all these factors," Rubio said.

Reminder

U.S. President Donald Trump, as Rubio noted, declined to impose sanctions on the Russian Federation for 60 days in order to analyze their impact on the global economy.