Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East, responded to a fake news story from Politico claiming the Trump administration is considering lifting sanctions against Russia. Rubio and Witkoff labeled the story as “totally fictitious.”
“This is false,” Rubio and Witkoff said in a joint statement. “Neither of us have had any conversations about lifting sanctions on Russia as part of a peace deal with Ukraine. This is just totally fictitious and irresponsible reporting from Politico, a fifth-rate publication. If they have an ounce of journalistic integrity they will fully retract this piece of fiction.”
The report from Politico claimed that “five people familiar with the discussions” told the outlet that Witkoff “has been the main proponent of lifting sanctions” against Russia’s Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline and “other Russian assets.”
“Two people familiar with the matter” claimed that Witkoff “has directed his team to draw up a list of all of the energy sanctions that the United States has placed on Russia”:
White House special envoy Steve Witkoff has been the main proponent of lifting sanctions, people familiar with the talks told POLITICO. Witkoff, who has said he has developed a friendship with Putin in his role as Trump’s envoy to Moscow, has directed his team to draw up a list of all of the energy sanctions that the United States has placed on Russia as part of the effort, two people familiar with the matter said.
One of the two Nord Stream 2 pipelines built to deliver gas via the Baltic Sea to Germany is still operable despite a 2022 explosion that destroyed one line, as well as the pair of pipelines that were part of its companion, Nord Stream 1. The blast in September 2022 that halted shipments of gas remains under investigation, though reports have linked the explosion to Ukrainian nationals.
The outlet also alleged that while Witkoff has “raised the idea of lifting energy-related sanctions, the idea so far has not found much traction in the White House and that Rubio has tried to derail it”:
A second person said that while Witkoff has raised the idea of lifting energy-related sanctions, the idea so far has not found much traction in the White House and that Rubio has tried to derail it. “This is not a cake in the oven being baked, though the ingredients are being assembled,” this person said.
The report from Politico comes as, under Trump’s first term as president, he “signed a law that” would “impose sanctions on any firm that helps” Russia finish build the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, BBC News reported in December 2019.
As Breitbart News previously reported, in May 2021, former President Joe Biden defending lifting sanctions and allowing the construction on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline to resume.
In February 2022, the Biden administration reimposed sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline,” a day after Germany froze certification of the Kremlin-backed project,” according to Axios.
