After the resumption of passage in the Strait of Hormuz, the US announced the temporary lifting of most sanctions against Russian oil

The decision, announced this Friday by the Treasury Department, covers all operations related to the shipment and delivery of oil from Russiaand also applies to the ships of the Russian ghost fleet that until now were subject to sanctions.

Only the ban on transactions with Iran, North Korea, Cuba and the occupied Ukrainian regions, including Crimea, remains in place.

Initially, The announced concession will last one monthuntil May 16; if Trump does not extend it in the future, and this could mean placing some 100 million barrels of Russian oil on the markets.

In a first reaction from Brussels, the president of the European Council, António Costa, criticized “the unilateral decision” of the United States. “It is very worrying,” the Portuguese noted on his social networks, noting his displeasure.

The decision to unblock Russian oil to control the rise in price in the midst of the war against Iran represents a boomerang that will go directly against the Ukraine led by President Volodymyr Zelensky. Russia will pocket billions of dollars after Trump’s decision.

Last October 22, the United States had announced new sanctions targeting Russia’s two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, in an effort to pressure Moscow to negotiate a peace agreement with Ukraine.

At that moment, Donald Trump himself confirmed the sanction: “I simply felt that it was time. We have waited a long time,” said the American president, from the Oval Office, after a meeting with the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, to discuss the peace negotiations.

The announcement came a day after Trump announced that a planned meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin had been postponed indefinitely.