The Trump administration is sanctioning a Russian state-owned energy company it said was helping Venezuela’s government evade U.S. oil sanctions.
A senior Trump administration official announced the new sanctions on the oil company Rosneft on Tuesday, according to Politico. The sanctions will hit the company’s Swiss brokerage firm as part of an increased effort to cut off funds from Nicolas Maduro’s regime.
Rosneft is run by the Russian oligarch Igor Sechin, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Sechin’s company has acted as a go-between for Venezuela, shuttling the country’s crude oil to markets around the world. The new sanctions are retaliation against the “growing and increasingly central role of Rosneft in the affairs of Venezuela,” the official said.
The Trump administration is giving companies that have business dealings with Rosneft 90 days to separate themselves before the sanctions are enforced.
President Trump has pressured Maduro for months to step down as president and turn the country over to the Venezuelan National Assembly and the body’s leader, Juan Guaido. Trump reiterated his support for Guaido on Feb. 4 during his annual State of the Union address to Congress. Guaido attended the speech as a special guest of the White House.
Maduro has remained in power despite heavy U.S. sanctions and attempts to cut off funding for his regime. Russia is viewed as one of Maduro’s largest backers, along with China and Cuba.
