Just one day before the sanctions relief was announced, Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev met with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Florida. Among other issues, they reportedly discussed economic cooperation and sanctions policy.

Currently, around 124 million barrels of Russian oil are at sea. At the current price of > $80 per barrel for Urals crude, these shipments are worth at least $10 billion. While the direct budget revenue for Russia will be smaller due to discounts and costs, the sale of this oil will still generate additional resources that ultimately help finance the Kremlin’s war machine.