Anna asked whether a diesel agreement between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin could have been made before its announcement. She wrote that the tanker Minerva Zen left Saint Petersburg on September 22 – 17 days before Trump's announcement. The ship, sailing under the Greek flag, had an undisclosed destination since its departure and was supposed to reach the US East Coast on October 11 or 12, according to data from Windward and Vortexa, a week after the House of Representatives voted for the Graham sanctions law. The route is documented, but the cargo is not, Anna wrote. Shipping papers are not available; estimates range from 230,000 to 300,000 barrels of diesel. Shipping analyst Michelle Wiese Bockmann could not say whether the ship had been redirected after Trump's announcement or whether an agreement had already existed before. Anna also pointed out that the US Treasury Department had issued General License No. 135 less than 24 hours before the report, allowing the import of Russian diesel until April 2027. She related the issuance on Thursday, a phone call on Friday, and the departure of the tanker on September 22, stating that the timing seemed unusual. While Kyiv had urged Congress to implement the Graham law, Washington could have already planned differently, according to her account. She cited Windward and Vortexa, quoted by Nasha Niva, as well as UkrMedia and NPR. #DieselDeal #Trump #Putin (translated)
