Secretary Bessent refutes Dmitriev’s claims that sanctions have no effect on Russia’s economy

According to Ukrinform, he stated this during a CBS News broadcast.

During the interview, the host noted that the United States imposed sanctions this week against Russia’s leading oil and gas companies. However, Dmitriev claimed that they would supposedly have “absolutely no effect on Russia’s economy.”

“They will simply lead to higher prices at gas stations in the United States,” Putin’s envoy said.

Further in the conversation, Bessent was asked whether Putin’s envoy was wrong and when Moscow would actually feel the consequences of the new sanctions.

“Well, I think Russia is going to feel the pain immediately. I can tell you that we've already seen India has done a complete halt of Russian oil purchases. Many of the Chinese refineries have stopped,” the Secretary of the Treasury stated.

Continuing his remarks, Bessent described Dmitriev as a propagandist, adding that Putin’s envoy has nothing to say except lies.

“Margaret, are you really going to publish what a Russian propagandist says? I mean, what else is he going to say? That's going to be terrible, and it's going to bring Putin to the table” Bessent added.

The U.S. Treasury Secretary also noted that wartime growth of the Russian economy is virtually zero, while inflation has already exceeded 20 percent. He emphasized that U.S. actions are aimed at bringing Putin to the negotiating table, since oil is what funds Russia’s war machine. In his view, U.S. sanctions can significantly reduce Russia’s economic revenues.

The host then clarified whether Bessent meant, by calling Dmitriev a propagandist, that “we should not listen to anything he says.” In response, he again implied that Dmitriev has nothing to say other than lies about the impact of sanctions.

“Margaret, what's he going to say? Of course, he's going to say this. If you go through and look at every Russian talking point, they seem to use the word, we have immunized the economy against this. Well, they haven't immunized the economy. Their oil earnings are down 20% year over year,” the U.S. Treasury Secretary added.

As reported by Ukrinform, on October 22, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced sanctions against Russia’s two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil. Washington also called on Moscow to immediately agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine.

Senior Kremlin officials publicly described the United States and U.S. President Donald Trump as an adversary of Russia and “unfriendly” toward it in response to sanctions imposed by Washington on Russia’s energy sector.