The U.S. and Russia also discussed energy deals during Ukraine talks – Reuters

The United States and Russia also discussed energy deals during their latest negotiations on Ukraine.

These were proposed as incentives to encourage the Kremlin to agree to peace, and for Washington to ease sanctions against Russia, Reuters reported, citing sources.

Specifically, discussions included:

• the possibility of ExxonMobil returning to participate in Russia’s Sakhalin-1 oil and gas project;

• the potential purchase by Russia of American equipment for its gas projects, such as Arctic LNG-2, which is under Western sanctions;

• U.S. purchases of nuclear icebreakers from Russia.

The White House is also trying to encourage the Kremlin to buy American rather than Chinese technologies as part of Washington’s broader strategy to alienate China and weaken ties between Beijing and Moscow.

Negotiations on these topics were held during U.S. Special Envoy Stephen Utkoff’s visit to Russia in early August, during meetings in the White House with President Donald Trump, and then “briefly discussed” at the U.S.-Russia summit in Alaska.

“The White House really wanted to produce a loud headline after the Alaska summit by announcing a major investment deal,” one source said. “That’s how Trump feels he’s achieved something.”

It should be recalled that Politico previously reported the European Union had nearly exhausted its options for increasing sanctions pressure on Russia.