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August 26, 2025Cryptopolitan logoCryptopolitan

U.S. considers energy concessions for Russia in push for Ukraine peace

The White House is pushing a quiet but aggressive new tactic to end the war in Ukraine, offering Russia a series of energy deals in exchange for peace and partial sanctions ￰0￱ offers were discussed earlier this August during meetings between ￰1￱ Russian officials in Moscow and again at the Alaska summit on August 15, according to ￰2￱ behind-closed-doors talks involved proposals that could reopen access for Russia’s energy sector, which has been locked out of global capital since the 2022 ￰3￱ Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, who traveled to Moscow, met directly with Vladimir Putin and investment representative Kirill Dmitriev to go over the ￰4￱ included allowing Exxon Mobil to return to its former role in Sakhalin-1, a major oil and gas project in Russia’s Far ￰5￱ pulled out in 2022, taking a $4.6 billion hit after the Kremlin seized its 30% ￰6￱ Putin just signed a decree that might let foreign players back in, if they help get Western sanctions lifted.

“The White House really wanted to put out a headline after the Alaska summit, announcing a big investment deal,” a senior ￰7￱ told Reuters . “This is how Trump feels like he’s achieved something.” US weighs LNG tech sales and Russian icebreaker purchase American officials also raised the possibility of Russia purchasing ￰8￱ for its Arctic LNG 2 project, despite heavy sanctions placed on that facility over the last two ￰9￱ plant, majority-owned by Novatek, resumed limited processing in April and has managed five LNG shipments this year despite sanctions blocking access to ice-class ￰10￱ production train remains offline due to export difficulties, while a third train is still being ￰11￱ phase is expected to use Chinese technology, but Washington wants to change that.

Trump’s administration is trying to get Russia to choose American tech instead of Chinese alternatives, part of a broader plan to break the tight Beijing-Moscow alliance. “The aim is to get Russia to pivot away from China and start relying more on ￰12￱ technology again,” said a senior White House economic ￰13￱ strategic angle has gained urgency as Xi Jinping and Putin have met over 40 times in the past decade, including several recent visits where Putin openly referred to China as Russia’s closest ￰14￱ also included a more unexpected offer: the ￰15￱ nuclear-powered icebreaker ships from ￰16￱ vessels are critical for Arctic operations, and their sale could inject cash into Russia’s strained ￰17￱ idea was first reported by Reuters on August 15 and was briefly discussed again during the Alaska ￰18￱ threatens India tariffs to squeeze Russian oil While the offers are on the table, Trump hasn’t dropped his signature threats.

He’s warning that if Russia doesn’t move forward with negotiations, more sanctions will come, and India could get hit with heavy tariffs for continuing to buy Russian ￰19￱ would undercut one of Russia’s last major export routes. Trump’s goal is to give Moscow a reason to deal, while applying economic pressure where it still ￰20￱ this year, Washington explored restoring some Russian gas exports to Europe, but Brussels blocked the ￰21￱ European Union is sticking with its plan to phase out all Russian gas imports by ￰22￱ resistance has now pushed the ￰23￱ move toward bilateral energy deals directly with Russia, cutting the EU out of the current ￰24￱ the White House, Trump and his national security team are still pushing for a face-to-face meeting between Russian and Ukrainian officials, with the goal of a ceasefire or at least a temporary halt to fighting.

“It is not in the national interest to further negotiate these issues publicly,” a White House spokesperson said, responding to questions about the energy proposals. Meanwhile, Novatek has started hiring ￰25￱ to try and soften sanctions on Arctic LNG ￰26￱ any path forward is still tied to whether Russia takes concrete steps to support a peace ￰27￱ of now, the incentives are only on paper, and it’s unclear whether Putin will play ball or wait for more. Don’t just read crypto ￰28￱ ￰29￱ to our newsletter. It's free .

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