The United States will not lift any sanctions on Russia unless Moscow noticeably changes its behavior, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told European leaders in a call after the U.S.-Russia meeting in Riyadh.

European leaders are concerned that they are being left out of talks and of the apparent major pivot in U.S. foreign policy after the top officials from the United States and Russia met earlier this week in Saudi Arabia to discuss a potential end to the war in Ukraine.

Following the meeting with Russia, Rubio sought to assure the Europeans in a call with officials from the UK, France, Germany, and Italy that no deal would be imposed on Ukraine or Europe and that sanctions would not be lifted, at least not soon, The New York Times reports, citing a summary of the call it had reviewed.

The U.S. Administration will not be lifting sanctions on Russia unless a noticeable change in Moscow’s behavior is seen, Rubio told the European officials.

However, the U.S. Secretary of State “left the door open to easing some sanctions in limited ways if the Russians began taking steps that the administration was seeking,” NYT reports, based on the summary of the call prepared by European officials.

Rubio also told the Europeans that the U.S. Administration was very much aware that Russia could try to use the U.S.-Russia talks to create rifts and divisions among the Western allies, according to the NYT’s account of the call.

The latest U.S. sanctions on Russia’s oil trade, the most aggressive sanctions yet imposed in the last days of the Biden Administration, have upended global oil trade as Asia rushes to cover Russian barrels with alternative supply and tanker rates soar amid significantly decreased availability of non-sanctioned vessels.

The Biden Administration’s farewell sanctions on Russian oil trade sanctioned dozens of vessels that Russia used to ship the ESPO crude blend from Kozmino to China’s independent refiners.

Meanwhile, the EU this week agreed on a new package of sanctions against Moscow, including a ban on Russian aluminum imports and the designation of 73 shadow fleet vessels.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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