Paris (France) (AFP) – A tanker filled with Russian diesel is headed for New York, maritime trackers and the Kremlin confirmed Friday, after the United States eased sanctions in a deal that shocked Ukraine and its European allies.
US President Donald Trump struck the deal with President Vladmir Putin this month as Russia's war against Ukraine -- Europe's worst since World War II -- dragged on and as his relations with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky plummeted.
The agreement is widely seen as an attempt by Trump to lower US fuel prices ahead of mid-term elections next month, with his Republican party facing mounting voter frustration.
Russia has been under massive Western sanctions since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Trump's decision to waive some sanctions to allow more Russian diesel into global markets came as Moscow's forces scaled up attacks on Kyiv.
Trump has blamed Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries for soaring fuel prices.
But analysts have said the war Trump launched in Iran in February was the main driver for the rising prices.
The tanker Agioi Fanendes, sailing under the Maltese flag, was located off Helsinki on Friday and indicated "New York" as its destination on its AIS transponder signal, according to data from the maritime tracking firm Kpler.
The ship left Russia's Baltic port of Primorsk overnight, after loading nearly 300,000 barrels of diesel at the oil terminal there, Kpler said. It was due to reach New York around November 7.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that the "first tanker set sail for its intended recipients, its buyers".
"Further shipments will continue at a steady pace," he told reporters.
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