Dmitriev: US has realized the harm of sanctions and is seeking ways to lift them — relations are 'at zero'

At the Russian Energy Week International Forum on October 16, Kirill Dmitriev, Special Representative of the Russian President for Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation and head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), stated that Washington is increasingly working on mechanisms to lift sanctions pressure on Russia. According to him, the American side 'is increasingly realizing that sanctions are harming the United States itself' and has effectively put itself in a position where it must find ways to remove them.

Multi-level contacts

Dmitriev emphasized that Russia maintains regular contacts not only with American negotiators on the Ukrainian issue—Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner—but also with the US Department of Energy. At the same time, he noted that bilateral relations are 'at zero': even to restore certain diesel fuel supplies and similar goods, the Russian side has to interact with a whole range of American agencies to achieve any concrete result.

Washington exploring easing restrictions

The RDIF head's statements coincided with a series of reports in American media. According to Reuters, published on October 15, the White House is considering easing restrictions on tankers that previously transported oil from Russia, Iran, and Venezuela. Agency sources linked the initiative to the need to reduce record-high maritime shipping costs. Meanwhile, Politico reported on October 13 that the US administration is unlikely to introduce new sanctions packages against Russia in the near term under current legislation.

Diesel issue as a test scenario

As early as October 14, two days before his speech at Energy Week, Dmitriev announced that Russia and USA are jointly working on organizing diesel fuel supplies to the US market. He expressed confidence that all existing difficulties in this area will be overcome. Thus, the issue of logistics and customs clearance for specific commodity flows is essentially becoming a practical testing ground to see how far both sides are willing to go toward normalizing economic ties.

Context and prospects

Dmitriev's speech at the forum, which brings together key players in the energy sector, emphasizes that the topic of sanctions relief has ceased to be purely a political narrative and is increasingly being discussed in terms of specific product categories and supply chains. For Russian businesses operating under multi-layered restrictions, the opportunity to even partially restore access to certain markets and supply channels is of significant practical interest. At the same time, as Dmitriev himself noted, the current level of bilateral relations remains extremely low, and every step forward requires coordination with numerous agencies on both sides.