The United States has temporarily relaxed some of its toughest energy sanctions on Russia, authorizing the sale of Russian crude oil and petroleum products stranded at sea to India, in a move Washington says is aimed at stabilizing global energy markets rather than aiding Moscow.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a narrowly tailored licence permitting the “delivery and sale of crude oil and petroleum products of Russian Federation origin loaded on vessels as of March 5, 2026 to India.” The authorization applies even to ships already blocked under various sanctions regimes, but only until the end of April 3, 2026.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent framed the waiver as a pragmatic step to prevent supply shocks. He said the measure was designed “to enable oil to keep flowing into the global market,” stressing that it covers only cargoes already at sea and therefore “will not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government.”

By directing the stranded shipments to India, Washington is seeking to ease what Bessent described as “pressure caused by Iran’s attempt to take global energy hostage,” a reference to Tehran’s efforts to leverage its own energy exports amid regional tensions. The move comes even as India has signaled it will halt future purchases of Russian oil under a broader trade understanding with the United States.

The waiver underscores the delicate balance Washington is trying to strike between punishing Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and preventing turmoil in global energy markets. In a rare escalation of pressure on Moscow, President Donald Trump last November imposed sweeping sanctions on Russian oil giants Lukoil and Rosneft, measures that forced major buyers to scramble for alternative supplies.

Since then, Russia has assembled a so‑called “shadow fleet” of aging tankers with murky ownership structures to circumvent restrictions imposed by the United States, the European Union and the G7. These ships have been used to move Russian crude outside traditional insurance and tracking systems, complicating enforcement efforts.

The new licence does not lift those broader sanctions, but it offers a brief, tightly defined window for clearing a backlog of cargoes already on the water. US officials argue that allowing those barrels to reach India, one of the world’s largest oil importers, will help cap price spikes while maintaining pressure on the Kremlin’s future energy revenues.