Trump shuts down Russia’s sanctions loophole: end of General License 8L

After today’s discouraging negotiations in Moscow between the American and Russian delegations, Donald Trump pulled his first “trump card” from his sleeve.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s General License 8L has been terminated!

Even American media outlets did not mention this General License 8L, let alone Ukrainian ones. I doubt that even the Ukrainian government was aware of this “trap” 8L that the administration of former U.S. President Joe Biden had set for us.

General License 8L, despite EU sanctions, allowed 12 Russian financial institutions to conduct currency transactions “related to energy.”

The definition of “activities related to energy” included the following types of operations: “extraction, production, refining, liquefaction, gasification, regasification, conversion, enrichment, manufacturing, transportation, or purchase of oil, including crude oil, condensates, unprocessed lubricants, liquefied natural gas, petroleum products, natural gas, or other energy-producing products such as coal, wood, or agricultural products, as well as the production of biofuels or uranium in any form, and the development, production, generation, transmission, or exchange of electricity by any means, including nuclear, thermal, and renewable energy sources.”

This loophole – if you can even call it a “loophole” – was a full-fledged gateway for sanction evasion. While Ukraine has been fighting a brutal war, until today, 12 Russian banks had been exploiting this “loophole” to bypass sanctions:

1. State Corporation “Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs” (Vnesheconombank);
2. Public Joint Stock Company Bank “Financial Corporation Otkritie”;
3. Open Joint Stock Company “Sovcombank”;
4. Public Joint Stock Company “Sberbank of Russia”;
5. Public Joint Stock Company “VTB Bank”;
6. Joint Stock Company “Alfa-Bank”;
7. Public Joint Stock Company “Rosbank”;
8. Public Joint Stock Company “Zenit Bank”;
9. Public Joint Stock Company “Bank Saint Petersburg”;
10. National Clearing Center (NCC);
11. Any legal entity in which one or more of the above entities directly or indirectly own, individually or collectively, 50% or more of the shares; or
12. The Central Bank of the Russian Federation.

Until March 12, 2025, these banks were allowed to conduct dollar transactions related to payments for Russian energy resources. However, today’s decision by Donald Trump’s administration to discontinue License 8L will now prevent European countries from purchasing oil from Russia without the risk of sanctions.

An official representative of the U.S. Department of the Treasury confirmed that License 8L expired yesterday and that the White House has no intention of renewing it in order to pressure Russia into ceasing hostilities in Ukraine.

Today, Russian President Vladimir Putin “de facto” rejected a proposal for an immediate 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine, which Kyiv had previously agreed upon with the U.S. earlier this week.

According to Putin, while Russia is “generally” open to a ceasefire, there are “nuances.”

The Kremlin has already submitted its list of ceasefire conditions to the U.S., which are deliberately broad and mirror past demands: Ukraine must renounce NATO membership, agree to a ban on foreign military presence on its territory, and provide international recognition of Russia’s annexation of Crimea and four Ukrainian regions.

Rostyslav Demchuk

Ukraine Front Lines

Tags: investigation Russia russia ukraine war sanctions sanctions against russia trump