Scott Bessent, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Treasury Department, said he fully supports ratcheting up financial sanctions against the Russian oil sector if it’s part of Trump’s strategy to end Moscow’s war against Ukraine.
At his Senate confirmation hearing Thursday, Bessent said that he would support tightening sanctions on the Russian oil sector “to levels that would bring the Russian Federation to the table.”
Trump has vowed to swiftly end Russia’s war against Ukraine, but he hasn’t outlined how he would change the raft of sanctions that the Biden administration has targeted against Russia since the war began.
Bessent said he would “100 percent” support stronger sanctions “if President Trump requests as part of his strategy to end the Ukraine war.”
