The Agioi Fanendes, an oil tanker loaded with 40,000 metric tons of diesel, represents US President Donald Trump’s last chance to see his controversial diesel deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin come to fruition. The deal was reached last month, ahead of the November 3 midtermelections, amid soaring fuel prices and a cost of living crisis in the US. It failed to prevent a thumping in the polls for the Republicans, with a “blue wave” carrying Democrats to a landslide victory across the country.
Read moreTrump strikes diesel deal with Putin, reversing years of pressure on Russia over Ukraine war Now the deal designed to throw Trump a political lifeline is unravelling on the high seas. The Maltese-flagged Agioi Fanendes is the first of three oil tankers to leave Russia– officially to deliver their precious cargo to the US– that is still heading toward the American coast, the Financial Times reported in an article published a day after the midterm elections. The Talisman, a Russian oil tanker on international sanctions lists, departed from the St.
Petersburg area on October 22. But after sailing through the English Channel, it turned south, skirted the Bay of Biscay and the Portuguese coast before entering the Mediterranean Sea through the Strait of Gibraltar. The Leruo, also sanctioned by the EU, UK and US, continues its journey across the Atlantic but now has Brazil as its official destination as it sails southwest through the Atlantic.
Moscow has slammed the FT report as “fake” news. Kirill Dmitriev, a Kremlin envoy and negotiator, maintained Thursday that “Tankers destined for the US continue on course," in a post on X. But when asked about the details of the shipments, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was a "commercial" matter that could not be made public.
"All diesel will find its buyers," he added. Trump met with Dmitriev at the White House on Thursday, while the senior Kremlin envoy was in the US for an event with first lady Melania Trump ahead of next week’s talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Abu Dhabi. The US president, however, declined to give reporters details of his meeting with Dmitriev.
Read moreMelania Trump urges 'enduring' ceasefire at meeting with Ukrainian, Russian officials For the Agioi Fanendes, anything is still possible. Ship tracking dataas of Friday listed its destination as awaiting “orders”. The tanker’s last position was received on October 28.
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