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Monitored since 29 October 2026 | no updates yet
Key takeaways
- Yuri Ushakov said on 28 October that Russia and the Trump administration are discussing lifting US sanctions on RDIF.
- The New York Times, citing an unnamed US official, reported that the administration is assessing the fund's application.
- By 29 October no named White House, Treasury or State official had confirmed or denied the talks on the record.
Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said on Wednesday 28 October that Russia and the Trump administration are discussing the lifting of US sanctions on the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia's state-owned sovereign wealth fund, according to TASS, the Russian state news agency. Reuters also reported his remarks. By Thursday 29 October, no named official at the White House, the Treasury or the State Department had confirmed or denied the talks on the record. No decision has been announced.
Ushakov spoke to reporters a day after a New York Times report of Tuesday 27 October. The Times, citing an unnamed US official, reported that the administration is considering the fund's application for sanctions removal. The two accounts are separate. One is Russian and on the record. The other is American and anonymous.
Confirmed, claimed and not yet known
Claimed by the Kremlin. Ushakov said talks on lifting the RDIF sanctions are taking place and have been "going on for some time." He also said: "I don't know what the outcome will be." The first phrase is CNN's rendering of his remarks to TASS; the second is Reuters' rendering. He said RDIF chief executive Kirill Dmitriev has been actively pressing US officials on lifting the sanctions.
Reported by The New York Times, citing an unnamed US official. The administration is assessing the fund's application "through established procedures." The official described the step as part of an effort to "improve U.S.-Russia relations and help end the war." That is the only US-side input in the coverage so far. It describes an application being assessed.
Not yet known. No named official at the White House, Treasury or State Department has confirmed or denied the talks on the record. CNN said it had reached out to the White House and the State Department for comment. Its report does not say they replied. No decision to lift the sanctions has been announced.
Observers are reading: the sanctions imposed on RDIF in 2022, its reported role in the diesel arrangement, and the reactions reported so far.
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What the record supports
The sourcing is uneven. The Russian side is on the record. The American side is anonymous. The public US position is blank. Neither side has said publicly what Russia would give in return, though the New York Times links the push to the fund's diesel shipments.
The timing matters to the people involved. The relief is under discussion before any settlement of the war, and CNN reports that Russia continues to attack Ukrainian towns, cities and energy infrastructure. CNN also reports that Putin said last week the Kremlin would be ready to resume three-way talks with the US and Ukraine after mid-November. The US midterm elections are on 3 November.
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