US waives sanctions for Trump-Putin summit
The US Treasury Department has issued a temporary waiver for certain sanctions on Russia, allowing transactions related to the upcoming meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
The announcement was made on Wednesday by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ahead of the summit between Trump and Putin scheduled for Friday in Anchorage, Alaska.
The sanctions waiver covers transactions that are “normally incidental to and necessary for the attendance at or support of meetings in the state of Alaska,” although it does not authorize the “unblocking or release of any property blocked or effectively immobilized.”
The pause is set to remain in effect until August 20, OFAC noted.
The upcoming summit is expected to focus on the Ukraine conflict, as well as on a broader range of issues related to bilateral US-Russia ties.
Washington and Moscow have both been cautious about their expectations, signaling the meeting is likely to be the first top-level event in a string of talks rather than yield an immediate breakthrough.
Trump earlier described the summit with Putin as a “feel-out meeting” that will help him determine whether the Ukraine conflict can be resolved.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said Moscow views the meeting as a chance to begin mending strained ties with Washington, expressing hope that it will “give an impulse to the normalization of bilateral relations.”
