After President Donald Trump's decision to shorten Russia's deadline to reach a deal to end the war in Ukraine, retired Army Gen. Keith Kellogg, special envoy to Russia and Ukraine, told Newsmax on Tuesday that the sanctions on Moscow's oil will "start to bite" if enforced.
"We really haven't pushed hard on the economic piece of the oil," Kellogg said on "The Record With Greta Van Susteren." "It's a petrol state. They export about 7 million barrels of oil a day, and a lot of it goes through what we call the dark fleet."
Speaking in Scotland on Monday, Trump said he was cutting short his original 50-day deadline and giving Moscow only 10 to 12 days to reach an agreement to end the Ukraine conflict before he would impose secondary sanctions on its oil exports.
The two biggest buyers of Russian oil are India and China, Kellogg said, with the oil revenue being used to fund the war in Ukraine and "pay these enormous bonuses to the soldiers [Russian President Vladimir Putin is] recruiting."
The sanctions would reportedly impose 100% tariffs on buyers of Russian oil.
"If you start to effect that and then the oligarchs start to see that, with the Russian sovereign assets that are predominantly held — even though we hold them — predominantly held in Belgium, he's going to start getting internal pressure from his generals, he's going to get it from the oligarchs, he's going to get it from himself," Kellogg said of the Russian leader.
"And I think you'll start to see that," Kellogg continued. "Because when you look at sanctions and … if you talk to the secretary of the Treasury, if you look at sanctions, and Secretary [Scott] Bessent has said that, if you look at them between one and 10, one being low, 10 being high, they're probably at about a level of six. But the enforcement is about a level three. So, if you start enforcing those sanctions, they start to bite."
The Kremlin said Tuesday that it had "taken note" of Trump's revised deadline and threat of sanctions.
"We have taken note of President Trump's statement yesterday," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "The special military operation continues."
"We remain committed to a peace process to resolve the conflict around Ukraine and to ensure our interests in the course of this settlement," Peskov added.
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Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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