Moscow, 22 October. Kirill Dmitriev, the Russian president's special envoy for investment and economic cooperation with foreign countries and head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), said on NTV that the deal to supply Russian diesel fuel to the US would start being implemented on 23 October.
"We all know about the diesel deal, it will start being implemented literally tomorrow," he said.
Dmitriev also listed other areas of cooperation with the US: supplies of Russian fertilisers to the American market, "other energy projects" and technology projects, including joint artificial intelligence data centres. In his words, cooperation between Moscow and Washington will only expand, and opposition from "some European colleagues" will not stop it; Europeans themselves, he noted, buy far more Russian energy than the US. Dmitriev also allowed for diesel fuel deals with Europe if such a request came.
Dmitriev did not name volumes, prices or buyers in the US. The day before, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said the first tanker would leave for the US on 22 October and that Russia would supply diesel fuel there within its capabilities. By the evening of 22 October the sources we reviewed carried no reports that the tanker had sailed.
What it means: The Russian side has named a new start date for the diesel fuel deal, 23 October, one day after the date Novak gave, and linked it to a broader agenda: fertilisers, energy, AI data centres.
Who benefits: Russian oil companies get a new market for diesel fuel; the US gets extra supply amid a fuel shortage. European countries, according to Dmitriev himself, dislike such cooperation; the sources do not give their position.
Background: US President Donald Trump announced on 9 October an agreement with Putin on supplies of diesel fuel to the US and the world market; the US Treasury immediately issued a temporary licence for these operations.
List of sources used: TASS, Mail.ru Finance, Artsakh News
Artificial intelligence was used in preparing this material.
