Sanctions lifted, sanctions applied

The Trump administration on Sunday lifted sanctions against the business empire of Oleg V. Deripaska, one of Russia’s most influential oligarchs.

Congressional Democrats had tried to block the move this month, assailing it as a capitulation to the Kremlin and a key ally of President Vladimir V. Putin. But they failed to win enough Republican support to enforce the sanctions.

[...]

The Treasury Department announced a deal last month to lift the sanctions in exchange for a restructuring that it said would reduce Mr. Deripaska’s control and ownership of the companies.

Yet a confidential, legally binding document detailing the agreement showed that Mr. Deripaska and his allies would retain majority ownership of EN+.

[...]

After the sanctions were officially lifted, EN+ announced the appointment of seven new directors under the deal, including Christopher Bancroft Burnham, a banker who served on Mr. Trump’s State Department transition team and worked in George W. Bush’s State Department.

  NYT

The Trump cabal will continue operating until they're forced to stop.

The Trump administration is sanctioning Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, adding significant pressure on President Nicolás Maduro to step down and transfer power to the US-backed resistance leader who is challenging his claim to the presidency.

[...]

Based on an executive order President Donald Trump issued on Monday, the US Treasury Department has enacted financial penalties on Petroleos de Venezuela (PdVSA), the behemoth state-owned oil and natural gas company that provides the country with thousands of jobs and billions in revenue.

[...]

Venezuela is currently in the midst of a political standoff between two men who both claim to be the legitimate president of Venezuela: Nicolás Maduro, who was reelected president in May 2018, and opposition leader Juan Guaidó.

Guaidó claims the 2018 election was rigged and that he, as the head of the National Assembly (the country’s legislative body), is now the rightful president according to the country’s constitution.


The United States has officially recognized Guaidó as Venezuela’s interim president and called Maduro’s claim to the presidency “illegitimate.”

[...]

However, refineries can still import Venezuelan crude as long as the profits don’t go to Maduro’s regime.
  Vox

Where else would they go?

This may all seem good in theory. And indeed, Maduro critics like Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who has championed the Trump administration’s hardline stance toward the Venezuelan leader, applauded the effort.

But in practice it’s possible that the move could backfire — and potentially compel Maduro to hold on to the presidency.

That’s because one of his greatest excuses for his country’s economic woes is that America is to blame — and now may strengthen his argument.

Not to mention, Russia and China - and other countries - can pick up any slack in US sales.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.