EU plans to "express regret" over Trump's diesel deal with Putin

The final communiqué (conclusions) of the European Council meeting scheduled for 15-16 October is expected to include a paragraph expressing the European Union's regret over the agreement reached between US President Donald Trump and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin to supply Russian diesel as an exception to the sanctions against Russia.

Source: a senior EU official involved in drafting the document for the EU leaders' summit, who spoke to European Pravda's correspondent on condition of anonymity

Details: EU leaders may approve a document expressing their regret over the Trump-Putin deal.

"Regarding the deal that has been announced, we consider it unfortunate, so we regret that this deal has been reached. I believe this position is shared by the leaders," the European Pravda source said.

"I think that following the discussion on Ukraine at the European Council, we will have an expression of regret regarding this decision," the official added.

The senior EU official pointed out that this is not the first time the US has made deals with Russia that run counter to previous agreements among Western nations that support Ukraine.

"Trump's decision contradicts the strategy we have adhered to over the past four and a half years, namely not only to put pressure on Russia, but also to decouple our energy, our fossil fuel energy, from Russian sources. And we have been quite successful in doing this," the European Pravda source stressed.

The official recalled that "with the full implementation of the REPowerEU strategy, the idea is to completely sever this link [with Russia]".

"We will continue with this strategy, because we know that this is also a way not only to stop Russia's financing for its war machine, but also to put pressure on Russia to end this war," the senior official emphasised.

"This isn't the first time we have had disagreements with the US about the war in Ukraine... Since President Trump took office, dialogue with the US has not always led to full agreement on how the EU and the US see things. But dialogue is always better than no dialogue at all," the source concluded.

The source also noted that "we have seen many cases where this dialogue has led the US to change its position, or essentially to bring the two positions closer together".

Background:

• As European Pravda previously reported, between March 2022 and July 2026, EU member states paid Russia around €197 billion (approximately US$209 billion) for fossil fuels.
• On 9 October, Trump said he had spoken to Putin and reached an agreement with him on supplying Russian diesel to US and global markets.

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