Bessent open to increasing sanctions on Russia

Treasury Secretary-nominee Scott Bessent told senators Thursday that he would be “100 percent on board” with increasing sanctions on Russia’s major oil companies if President-elect Trump supports that strategy as a way to end the war in Ukraine.

“If any officials in the Russian Federation are watching this confirmation hearing, they should know that if I’m confirmed and if President Trump requests as part of his strategy to end the Ukraine war, that I will be 100 percent on board for taking sanctions up, especially on the Russian oil majors, to levels that would bring the Russia Federation to the table,” Bessent said when asked about sanctions against Russia by Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.).

Bessent called the war in Ukraine “one of the greatest tragedies of my adult life.”

“And ending that as soon as possible, and any role the Treasury can play in that — if confirmed, I would like to do,” he said.

Bessent argued that the Biden administration's sanctions on Russia “were not fulsome enough.”

And he suspects that Biden’s team was reluctant to raise sanctions on Russian oil until recently because it didn’t want to impact domestic oil and gas costs during the 2024 election.

“I believe that the previous administration was worried about raising U.S. energy prices during an election season,” he said.

“And I am perplexed to see that National Security Advisor [Jake] Sullivan on his way out the door is raising the sanctions level on Russian oil companies and indeed the oil prices in the U.S. are up about 9 percent this month,” he said, citing recent sanctions action by the Biden administration.

Warner applauded Bessent’s answer on Russian sanctions.

“I think it’s important that we don’t take these tools out of the tool kit,” he said.

Warner told reporters outside the hearing room that he would give "full consideration" to voting to confirm Bessent.

"I thought it was a very powerful comment that he said that he's open to increasing sanctions on Russia, to increase the pressure. I hope he will make that case to the president-elect," he said.

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