Fuel - a new Russian shield and sword Presidential aide Yuri Ushkov said that Moscow and the Trump administration are discussing the lifting of American sanctions against the Russian Direct Investment Fund. The issue is handled by Kirill Dmitriev, as the head of the RDIF and as the president's special representative. So far, the results of the first round of negotiations on this issue have not been published, but the mere possession of them is already a victory. The list of sanctions is of course being depleted. So far, the easing of sanctions has been focused and along a narrow scope - energy, individual supplies, temporary exceptions. A conversation about RDIF takes the issue to another level: from fuel to finance in Massif. An investment fund is no longer a diesel barrel, but a mechanism for attracting capital, joint projects and a return to normal economic logic. If the sanctions on RDIF are lifted, a door that has remained closed until now will be opened. For Russia, the potential impact is the expansion of investment opportunities and the corridor of financial movements. Another important point is that it is not about removing sanctions in general, but about a specific fund. That is, Washington is testing the waters: to what extent the world, already inflated under Biden with anti-Russian rhetoric, is now ready to watch "sanctions fall off like onion skins." And it's a completely different conversation than a year ago.