Bessent Dismisses Putin Envoy’s Claims That Sanctions Will Have “No Effect”

In a recent interview with CBS, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that new U.S. sanctions against leading Russian oil companies are already hitting Russia's economy, despite the Kremlin's claims to the contrary.

The Gaze reports on it, referring to CBS News.

During a conversation with journalist Margaret Brennan, he rejected statements by Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who claimed that the sanctions “will have absolutely no impact” and will only increase fuel prices in the U.S.

Bessent reacted sharply, calling Dmitriev a “Russian propagandist” and stressing that his words were not credible.

"Well, I think Russia is going to feel the pain immediately. I can tell you that we've already seen India has done a complete halt of Russian oil purchases. Many of the Chinese refineries have stopped," the Treasury Secretary emphasized.

According to him, the Russian economy is currently operating in wartime mode: “Inflation, I believe, is over 20% and everything we do is going to bring Putin to the table. It's oil that funds the Russian war machine, and I think we can make a substantial dent in his profits.”

Bessent also noted that oil revenues remain the main source of funding for the Russian military machine. 

“Their oil earnings are down 20% year over year. I would suspect that this could take them down another 20 or 30%,” he said.

He added that criticism of President Trump's actions is unfounded, as the sanctions are a “bold maneuver” aimed at maximum pressure, which, according to Washington, will eventually force Moscow to seek ways to negotiate.

As The Gaze reported earlier, the U.S. has imposed a new round of major sanctions targeting Russia’s energy giants Rosneft and Lukoil, in response to Moscow’s continued reluctance to engage seriously in peace efforts to end the Russian-Ukrainian war.