The future U.S. Treasury Secretary advocates for stronger sanctions against Russia "if necessary to end the war."

Scott Bessent, a candidate for the position of U.S. Secretary of the Treasury from Trump's team, has advocated for stronger sanctions against Russia to pressure Putin into negotiations regarding Ukraine.

According to him, he is prepared to take this step if the U.S. president deems such measures necessary to end the war.

“I would fully support intensifying sanctions – especially against Russian oil companies – to a level that forces Russia to come to the negotiating table,” Bessent stated while addressing the Senate Finance Committee, as reported by Reuters.

He described the sanctions imposed by the Biden administration as “inadequate.”

In his view, the White House was overly concerned about a potential spike in energy prices during the election campaign and implemented such restrictions only at the end of its term to create difficulties for the next administration.

Bessent added that the war in Ukraine is one of the greatest tragedies of his life, and he wants to see it end as soon as possible.

Scott Bessent is 62 years old. He is the founder of the hedge fund Key Square Group and has also worked at the investment bank Brown Brothers Harriman and at Soros Fund Management.

Trump nominated him for the position of Treasury Secretary at the end of November, noting that Bessent “is respected as one of the leading international investors in the world.”

Sources from Bloomberg reported on Thursday that the new U.S. president's team intends to use the topic of strengthening sanctions against Russia to achieve a diplomatic agreement to end the war. According to them, this approach is possible if Putin refuses to come to the negotiating table and make concessions.

On January 10, the Biden administration implemented the most extensive sanctions package against the Russian oil sector, adding 183 tankers from the Kremlin’s “shadow fleet” and two extraction companies, Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas, to the blacklist, which accounted for over a quarter of maritime exports (approximately 970,000 barrels per day) in 2024.

As a result, as of January 13, at least 65 oil tankers worth $3.5 billion were “stranded” at sea, and freight rates for transporting Far Eastern grades to China surged more than threefold.