SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
President Trump says the U.S. will begin to import Russian diesel to try to drive down gas prices before the midterm elections. The U.S. had banned Russian diesel to limit Russia's revenue amid the war in Ukraine. NPR's Russia correspondent Charles Maynes joins us from Moscow. Charles, thanks for being with us.
CHARLES MAYNES, BYLINE: Good morning, Scott.
SIMON: And tell us, please, about the president's announcement. I gather it was on social media.
MAYNES: Yeah. That's right. Trump revealed the news on his Truth Social platform. He wrote that he'd had a highly successful discussion with President Vladimir Putin of Russia whereby Putin agreed to immediately supply over 300,000 tons of diesel fuel to the U.S. and global markets, with more to follow.
Trump said this meant diesel prices for Americans and for the rest of the world would be coming down - in his words - in record numbers and fast. That was in all caps. And he said he did this with certain constituencies in mind, saying farmers, ranchers and truckers were his greatest priority. Those, of course, are some of the groups who have been unhappy about the rise in diesel prices and who Trump will need to turn out in the midterms if Republicans are going to hold the House, much less the Senate.
SIMON: It is an election year. Politics might be driving U.S. economic policy abroad?
MAYNES: That's right - at least for now. The U.S. formally placed sanctions on Russia - Russian diesel shortly after the Kremlin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022. And it just took minutes after Trump's announcement for the Treasury Department to issue a six-month waiver to those trade restrictions.
SIMON: Charles, how would a deal actually work?
MAYNES: Oddly enough, this requires Russia to first lift its own diesel export ban. The Kremlin put that restriction in place in response to gas shortages that have hit Russia over the summer due to sustained Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian energy facilities. That crisis has basically eased a bit. So this deal comes at a moment, really, when industry experts here were already calling for the lifting of this ban on exports to other parts of the world, saying Russia was basically losing out on profit. And this U.S. deal to lift sanctions certainly helps them do this - just quicker, maybe, than some thought.
SIMON: And how are the leaders of Russia talking about the deal?
MAYNES: Well, the Kremlin issued a more general statement than Trump, saying it was ready to supply diesel to the U.S. and global markets, kind of full stop. But clearly, part of the story behind this deal is the warm relationship between Trump and Putin. A Kremlin adviser, Yuri Ushakov, later described to journalists the atmosphere of this call, saying Trump had wished Putin a happy birthday - Putin turned 74 this week and said, even, that neither side wanted to put down the phone despite taking a call for an hour and a half.
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YURI USHAKOV: (Speaking Russian).
MAYNES: Here's Ushakov saying he hoped Trump wouldn't mind if he quoted him, but that the U.S. president had told Putin he was ready to talk more today, more tonight or any day after. So these guys really seem to like each other.
SIMON: And how much will importing Russian oil actually affect prices in the U.S.?
MAYNES: Well, the Russian contribution to the global diesel needs in the short term isn't that much. And industry experts say, actually, it isn't likely to have the immediate impact that Trump says or is promising for diesel prices at the pump. How that impacts voters' decisions in November, of course, we'll have to see.
But the other interest here for Trump is Ukraine. You know, Trump has actually blamed Ukraine for driving up prices at the pump through its attacks on Russian energy facilities, even though most experts would say that while that may be a factor, the real cause has been Iran's blockage of the Strait of Hormuz. Be that as it may, Trump has been pressuring Ukraine to unilaterally halt its attacks on Russia to help with these gas prices, something Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has thus far refused to do without a reciprocal move by Moscow.
SIMON: How has President Zelenskyy reacted to news that Russia and the U.S. are striking this deal?
MAYNES: Well, he clearly doesn't like it. He said that the White House's decision prolongs the war by replenishing Russia's war chest. Here's Zelenskyy speaking in a voice message to reporters last night.
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PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: (Speaking Ukrainian).
MAYNES: So here Zelenskyy says the deal means more money for this war and more money to inflict suffering on Ukrainians, adding it only feeds Putin's ability to keep fighting. You know, and left unsaid, this deal gives Trump even more incentive to pressure Kyiv to halt its attacks on Russian energy, even as Putin continues his attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure - you know, on homes, on heating, electrical power stations - as we enter into the winter months with Ukraine's air defenses depleted.
SIMON: NPR's Russia correspondent Charles Maynes. Thanks so much.
MAYNES: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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