Meloni and Merz reject Trump's Russian diesel deal; Moscow hits back

Meloni's objection and Moscow's reply

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told the Senate on Wednesday, 14 October, ahead of the European Council meeting on Thursday and Friday, that the Russian diesel arrangement is a move she considers risky. She argued that the recent surge in fuel prices stems mainly from the war in Iran rather than the conflict in Ukraine.

The deal on Russian diesel announced last Friday by US President Donald Trump is a move I consider very risky.

Meloni warned that the arrangement could legitimise Moscow while Russian bombs keep falling on Ukrainian cities, generate revenue to finance the war and weaken the leverage of sanctions. Those risks, she said, contradict what Western governments, the United States included, have done to bring Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told ANSA that the matter was none of Meloni's business, and she pointed the Italian premier back to her first point.

First of all, it is none of her business. Secondly, refer back to point one.

Kyiv's thanks and Berlin's sanctions stance

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Meloni in a post on X for her support and her principled stance, saying she had understood who the aggressor is. He added a view on how lasting peace can be reached.

This is possible only through strength and joint efforts for our security.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has also rejected the diesel deal, arguing that the Kremlin will negotiate seriously only under pressure. He is calling for tougher sanctions, according to Deutsche Welle, which describes the arrangement as exposing a disagreement between Washington and Europe over sanctions and the war in Ukraine.

A tanker, high prices and a shrinking diesel flow

LSEG data cited by N-tv show that a tanker was loaded with about 40,000 tonnes of low-sulphur diesel at the Baltic port of Primorsk on 13 October and is heading for Morocco. Russia has resumed diesel exports under the agreement, after the US temporarily suspended sanctions on Russian fuel imposed over the war in Ukraine.

Deutsche Welle's expert sources doubt that the deal will bring prices down soon. Samina Sultan of the German Economic Institute (IW) blamed the war in Iran and the simultaneous blockage of the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb. Kpler estimates that about 13.5 million barrels of crude oil again transit Hormuz each day, while refined products such as diesel run at roughly 677,000 barrels a day, against 3.6 million before the war.

Trump's five days and the unconfirmed energy truce

After a call with Putin on Friday, 9 October, Trump launched a five-day diplomatic push that Axios, as cited by Ziare.com, described as favouring Moscow. On 11 October he announced what he called an "energy armistice" between Ukraine and Russia, but neither side confirmed it.

On 14 October the Kremlin said the scope of the proposed truce had not been specified and that work on it continued. Hours earlier Russia carried out another deadly air attack on Ukrainian cities and power plants. Zelensky said Ukraine would observe a full energy truce if Russia did the same, and that Ukrainian forces had not struck Russian refineries since Trump's announcement. A White House official, not named, told Axios the announcement covered only oil refineries.

Political costs at home

Axios reports that the concessions could hurt Republicans three weeks before the midterm elections on 3 November, since Trump is moving closer to a president most Americans view unfavourably. On 12 October Trump rejected intelligence reports that Russia gives Iran data on US military targets in the Middle East. On 13 October he again defended the diesel deal and rejected claims that it helps finance the Russian military. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said on 13 October that the diesel supply benefits Russia, the United States and global energy markets.