The Trump administration is considering lifting sanctions on Russia's sovereign wealth fund, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), the New York Times reports. An American official confirmed that the administration is examining the fund's request for sanctions relief "in accordance with established procedures" as part of efforts to "improve relations between the United States and Russia and help end the war." The final decision has not yet been made. The Biden administration approved the fund in the wake of the 2022 Russian invasion, calling it a "Putin piggy bank." Sources familiar with the matter told the network that Russian officials pushed for sanctions relief during negotiations on the fund's role in supplying Russian diesel to the United States after Trump suspended sanctions on Russian diesel on October 9. The US Treasury Department believes that the fund already has the right to work with Soler and is conducting the standard procedure for removing the sanctions separately. This would be consistent with previous actions taken by President Donald Trump regarding Russian sanctions. On October 16, President Trump signed an executive order repealing the tariffs and most of the Russia-Iran sanctions legislation proposed by Senator Lindsey O. Graham. On October 21, when special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin, Russia released Steven Hubbard, a 74-year-old American who had been detained since 2022. President Trump wrote that the United States "was under no obligation to do anything in return." In his speeches that day he said that the United States "received nothing in return". In a social truth post just minutes later, he wrote that "if sanctions are imposed, these negotiations will definitely be stopped completely and forever."

The Trump administration is considering lifting sanctions on Russia's sovereign wealth fund, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), the New York Times reports. An American official confirmed that the administration is examining the fund's request for sanctions relief "in accordance with established procedures" as part of efforts to "improve relations between the United States and Russia and help end the war." The final decision has not yet been made. The Biden administration approved the fund in the wake of the 2022 Russian invasion, calling it a "Putin piggy bank." Sources familiar with the matter told the network that Russian officials pushed for sanctions relief during negotiations on the fund's role in supplying Russian diesel to the United States after Trump suspended sanctions on Russian diesel on October 9. The US Treasury Department believes that the fund already has the right to work with Soler and is conducting the standard procedure for removing the sanctions separately. This would be consistent with previous actions taken by President Donald Trump regarding Russian sanctions. On October 16, President Trump signed an executive order repealing the tariffs and most of the Russia-Iran sanctions legislation proposed by Senator Lindsey O. Graham. On October 21, when special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin, Russia released Steven Hubbard, a 74-year-old American who had been detained since 2022. President Trump wrote that the United States "was under no obligation to do anything in return." In his speeches that day he said that the United States "received nothing in return". In a social truth post just minutes later, he wrote that "if sanctions are imposed, these negotiations will definitely be stopped completely and forever."