Washington, DC [US], October 18 : US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended President Donald Trump on Sunday regarding his choice to set aside sweeping Russian tariffs and sanctions established under legislation championed by the late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, asserting that “no one has been tougher” than the American head of state.
During an appearance on NBC News's Meet the Press, Bessent defended the administration's decision to pause enforcement of the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act. This move has encountered strong pushback from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, alongside legislators from both major political parties. The executive branch waived the provisions soon after reaching an agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin to remove restrictions on Russian diesel imports to bring down energy costs prior to the midterm elections.
“President Trump sanctioned the two largest Russian energy companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, which dealt a catastrophic blow to the Russian energy industry,” Bessent said. “So no one has been tougher on Russian sanctions than President Trump.”
When programme host Kristen Welker questioned the administration's rollback of penalties against Moscow, the Treasury chief pushed back.
“Kristen, that's not true,” he said. “No sanctions were lifted on Friday. No sanctions were lifted.”
Bessent argued that criticism directed at the suspension of the Graham legislation was unwarranted, pointing out that European allies had enacted comparable adjustments to cope with escalating energy expenses.
“There is a 60-day period, so we can examine what's going on,” Bessent stated regarding the relief measure. “The only thing that has been lifted is the diesel embargo, and I will point out the UK in May waived their embargo on diesel and jet fuel made with Russian crude. So where's the outrage for the rest of the world?”
Appearing on the same broadcast ahead of Bessent, Zelenskyy criticised the decision to ease restrictions on Moscow, characterising the policy as leniency towards the aggressor in the Russia-Ukraine war.
“We want to trust him, and I hope that he will change his decisions because I think that it's all mistakes, and it will not help us, and it will not help the United States,” Zelenskyy said of Trump. “It's not my choice, and I hope that he will change his decisions, change his attitude to Putin. We waited from the very beginning of his presidential term that he will change his attitude to Putin.”
In response, Bessent suggested that Zelenskyy appeared “disassembled” during the exchange, emphasising Europe's extensive purchases of Russian hydrocarbons.
“President Zelenskyy does not criticise his European partners,” Bessent said. “He seemed a bit disassembled in that interview. The Europeans are financing the Russian war machine. The US imports $4 billion of Russian products. $1.8 billion of that is fertiliser. The Europeans, they import more than 10 times that.” 
Friction between Kyiv and Washington has heightened recently. Tensions flared after Trump urged Zelenskyy to resign following Ukrainian deliberations over striking Russian energy facilities. Although the White House subsequently declared an energy truce, that arrangement collapsed rapidly as Russian strikes targeted Ukrainian electrical grids, prompting retaliatory Ukrainian attacks on Russian petroleum infrastructure.