Russia resumes diesel exports to Turkey and Brazil after US-licensed lifting of ban

Why it matters

Russia is the world's second-largest diesel exporter after the United States, so the resumption of flows reshapes the global fuel supply picture and weighs on world prices. The OFAC license valid until April 2027 and Trump's 17 October suspension of sanctions on buyers of Russian energy mark a significant easing of the sanctions pressure built up on Russia since the start of the full-scale invasion. Two tankers already sailing from Primorsk to Turkey and Brazil — and reported flows to Morocco — show the resumption is operational, not announced. Turkey and Brazil together still absorb well over half of Russian diesel exports this year, making them the immediate barometers of whether the restart actually holds. Zelensky's public criticism, framed as weakness that will encourage Moscow to continue the war, signals open friction between Ukraine and its principal Western backer over the sanctions posture.

What happened

Russia has resumed diesel fuel exports to Turkey and Brazil after Moscow lifted its export ban, a step facilitated by the United States. On 9 October, after a phone conversation between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a temporary general license valid until April 2027 permitting the supply of Russian diesel fuel to the world market. The same day, Trump said Russia would immediately place 300,000 tonnes of diesel on the world market, with 500,000 tonnes in November and another 1 million tonnes later, arguing this was needed to stabilise world fuel prices. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak announced that Russia is immediately lifting the diesel export restrictions introduced after Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries caused domestic shortages.

According to shipping data from Kpler and LSEG, at least two tankers have already moved. The Dolunay departed Primorsk on 14 October carrying a diesel cargo and signalled Alanya in Turkey as its destination; the Leruo departed Primorsk on 16 October and signalled Manaus in Brazil. Each tanker is reported to have carried around 300,000 barrels of diesel. Russian diesel has also begun arriving in Morocco, with roughly 210,000 tonnes (1.56 million barrels) shipped between 11 and 20 October.

On 17 October, Trump suspended the application of tariffs and sanctions against buyers of Russian energy under the Lindsey Graham law adopted in September. Kyiv's reaction was sharp: on the evening of 9 October, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the US decision weak and said Trump had been negotiating with Putin during talks between Ukraine and the US in Miami; he later repeated that easing sanctions against Russia was an obvious weakness that plays into Russia's hands. Trump has also said Russian diesel could enter the American market within 15–20 days of commercial contracts being signed, and Russia has indicated it is ready to scale US-bound deliveries from 500,000 tonnes to 3.5 million tonnes per month if Russian refineries remain operational.

How Ukrainian sources describe it

The supplied sources are all Ukrainian-language outlets, and they consistently frame the resumption through the lens of the US decision to issue the OFAC license and to suspend sanctions on buyers of Russian energy, rather than as a routine Russian commercial move. They foreground Zelenskyy's characterisation of the US move as weak and his warning that easing sanctions will encourage Putin to continue the war, embedding the energy story in the broader narrative of the Russo-Ukrainian war. They highlight the role of Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries as the cause of the earlier export ban, presenting the ban and its lifting as direct consequences of the conflict. Trump's suspension of sanctions under the Lindsey Graham law is treated as a politically significant escalation, not a technical adjustment.

Background

Russia had reduced diesel exports over the summer and then imposed a full export ban in response to domestic shortages triggered by Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries. On 30 September, the Russian government extended the ban on diesel and marine fuel exports by producers until the end of October, even as preparations for lifting it were already underway. Western sanctions imposed after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine reshaped Russian oil export routes, and Turkey and Brazil emerged as the top two buyers of Russian diesel from 2023 onward — Turkey took about 34% of 2025 Russian diesel exports (~95,000 barrels per day) and Brazil about 24% (~66,000 barrels per day), according to Kpler. The United States is itself normally the world's largest diesel exporter, so the new OFAC license opens the door for Russian supply to compete in the American market as well.