--- title: Trump to Lift Sanctions on Putin Associate's Company description: The Trump administration is ready to remove sanctions on Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska’s aluminum company, United Co. Rusal. canonical: https://time.com/5484788/trump-administration-set-lift-sanctions-putin-associate-company/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-12-19T20:57:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T08:17:59.490Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Administration Set to Lift Sanctions on Putin Associate's Company og:description: The administration is ready to remove sanctions on Oleg Deripaska’s aluminum company, United Co. Rusal og:url: https://time.com/5484788/trump-administration-set-lift-sanctions-putin-associate-company/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb226d2f1ca71fc28/698941ef8fd2ee268e35d6f3/oleg-russian-sanctions.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3756 og:image:height: 2113 og:image:alt: Russia US Independence Day, Moscow, Russia og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Administration Set to Lift Sanctions on Putin Associate's Company twitter:description: The administration is ready to remove sanctions on Oleg Deripaska’s aluminum company, United Co. Rusal twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb226d2f1ca71fc28/698941ef8fd2ee268e35d6f3/oleg-russian-sanctions.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Administration Set to Lift Sanctions on Putin Associate's Company > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=ceb502f5-bda3-421d-90c4-2ed98a895539&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: How Trump Changes His Story on the Russia Investigation [Watch (HLS stream): How Trump Changes His Story on the Russia Investigation](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/jtYJYHg3.m3u8) (3:51)  _Published 2018-12-06. As special counsel Robert Mueller and various news reports have dug up information about Russian meddling in the 2016 election, Trump has followed a predictable pattern._ by [Saleha Mohsin and Daniel Flatley / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Saleha Mohsin and Daniel Flatley / Bloomberg Contributor Dec 19, 2018 8:57 PM UTC As special counsel Robert Mueller and various news reports have dug up information about Russian meddling in the 2016 election, Trump has followed a predictable pattern. by [Saleha Mohsin and Daniel Flatley / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Saleha Mohsin and Daniel Flatley / Bloomberg Contributor Dec 19, 2018 8:57 PM UTC (Bloomberg) — The Trump administration is ready to remove sanctions on Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska’s aluminum company, United Co. Rusal, after reaching an agreement to significantly reduce his ownership stake. Deripaska will remain under U.S. sanctions and his property will remain blocked, but Treasury intends to remove financial restrictions on Rusal, En+ Group Plc and JSC EuroSibEnergo. The move will take effect in 30 days unless Congress blocks the action, the Treasury Department said in a statement Wednesday. “These companies have committed to significantly diminish Deripaska’s ownership and sever his control,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in the statement. “The companies will be subject to ongoing compliance and will face severe consequences if they fail to comply.” Mnuchin added that Treasury “maintains the ability under the terms of the agreement to have unprecedented levels of transparency into operations.” The Treasury secretary highlighted that Deripaska, not the companies, was the intended target of U.S. sanctions imposed in April on associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin over Moscow’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The announcement came on the same day Treasury imposed new sanctions on 15 Russian military intelligence operatives over the U.S. election meddling, as well as the attempted assassination of a former double agent in the U.K. One former intelligence officer was accused of working for Deripaska. Rusal is among the largest companies the U.S. has ever put on its sanctions designation list. The value of the aluminum producer has declined by more than half from $9.2 billion more than seven months ago. Deripaska’s agreement with Treasury includes cutting his direct and indirect share ownership below 50 percent in each company, overhauling the boards of En+ and Rusal, and “committing to full transparency with Treasury by undertaking extensive, ongoing auditing, certification, and reporting requirements,” the department said in a statement. The oligarch’s stake in EN+ will fall from approximately 70 percent to 44.95 percent, according to a letter from the Treasury Department to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. VTB Bank or another entity approved by the Treasury Department will take ownership of a block of share in EN+ as collateral for previous obligations companies controlled by the billionaire have to the bank. Deripaska also will donate a block of shares to a charitable foundation, according to the letter. Half of EN+’s restructured board will be comprised of U.S. or U.K. nationals, and Rusal’s current board chairman will step down, according to the letter. Deripaska also won’t be allowed to receive cash either in return for shares he relinquishes or from future dividends he may receive from the companies. Aluminum markets spun into chaos after the sanctions against the companies were announced, with global prices shooting up as much as 20 percent in the first week. Sanctioning the world’s largest aluminum supplier outside of China threatened a worldwide shortage of the metal, forcing Mnuchin to backtrack. Since April, he has closely monitored the issuance of extensions to the sanctions on Rusal as Treasury negotiated a deal with Deripaska to save the company from the full range of financial restrictions. Congress has 30 days to call a vote to block Treasury’s ability to lift the sanctions, according to the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act passed by lawmakers in August 2017. ## Transcript [00:01] Donald Trump has changed his story several times during [00:03] the Russia investigation. As Special Counsel Robert [00:06] Mueller and various news reports have dug up information [00:09] about Russian meddling in the 2016 election, Trump has [00:12] followed a predictable pattern. Here's how it works. Trump [00:17] begins by broadly denying that something happened. First, [00:19] he denied that Russians had hacked Democratic emails. [00:22] But I notice any time anything wrong happens, they like to [00:25] say the Russians. She doesn't know if it's the Russians [00:28] doing the hacking, maybe there is no hacking. The [00:31] campaign also denied that it had any contacts with Russia. [00:34] I joined this campaign in the summer, and I can tell you that [00:38] All the contact by the Trump campaign and associates was [00:42] with the American people. [ MUSIC ] [00:53] And Trump denied that he had any business connections [00:55] with Russia in July of 2016. Just weeks after his former [00:59] lawyer Michael Cohen stopped working on a project to [01:02] bring a Trump Tower to Moscow. So I mean I have nothing [01:04] to do with Russia. I don't have any jobs in Russia. I'm all [01:07] over the world, but we're not involved in Russia. As facts [01:11] emerge which make the denial harder to maintain, Trump [01:13] downplays their significance. He did that when he [01:17] admitted Democratic emails had been hacked but cast [01:20] doubt on who did it. I think it was Russia but I think it was [01:23] probably other people and / or countries and I [01:28] see nothing wrong with that statement. Nobody really [01:31] knows. Nobody really knows for sure He did it when he [01:34] admitted that his campaign chair, son, and son- in- law had [01:37] met with a Kremlin- connected lawyer in Trump Tower [01:39] during the election. He took a meeting with a lawyer from [01:42] Russia. It lasted for a very short period [01:46] and nothing came of the meeting. And he did it when he [01:49] argued that the Trump Tower Moscow project was not a big [01:51] deal. Everybody knew about it. It was written about in [01:54] newspapers It was a well known project, and so he's lying [01:58] about a project that everybody knew about. I mean, we [02:01] were very open with it. We were thinking about building a [02:03] building. This deal was a very public deal. Everybody [02:07] knows about this deal. I wasn't trying to [02:11] hide anything. [ MUSIC ] Finally, Trump makes an Mission, [02:14] but argues that it's not that important. He did that when he [02:17] argued that Russian medling had no influence on the [02:19] election. Well, Russia's actions had no impact at [02:23] all on the outcome of the election. Let me be totally clear in [02:28] saying that, and I've said this so many times, I accept [02:32] our intelligence Mention communities conclusion. That [02:36] Russia's meddling in the the 2016 [02:41] election took place. He did it when he argued that [02:44] meetings with foreign nationals promising dirt on a political [02:46] opponent are routine. So I think from a pratical standpoint [02:51] Most people would have taken that meaning. It's called [02:54] opposition research or even research into your opponent. [02:57] I've had many people, I have only been in politics for two [03:00] years, but I've had many people call up, OG, we have [03:04] information on this factor or this person or, frankly, [03:08] Hillary That's very standard in politics. And he did [03:12] it when he argued there would ne nothing wrong wit [03:14] perusing a business deal with a foreign government while [03:17] running for president. We decided, I decided ultimately not [03:20] to do it. There would have been nothing wrong if I did do it. [03:22] If I did do it, there would've been nothing wrong. That was [03:24] my business. Even if he was right, it doesn't [03:28] matter. Because I was allowed To do whatever I wanted [03:32] during the campaign. I was running my business. A lot of [03:35] different things during the campaign. One problem for [03:38] Trump with this pattern, it undercuts other denials he's [03:41] made. And it raises the question, if there was nothing [03:43] wrong with it, why deny it in the first place? [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5484788/trump-administration-set-lift-sanctions-putin-associate-company/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5484788/trump-administration-set-lift-sanctions-putin-associate-company/"},"headline":"Trump Administration Set to Lift Sanctions on Putin Associate's Company","datePublished":"2018-12-19T20:57:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-13T08:17:59.490Z","description":"The administration is ready to remove sanctions on Oleg Deripaska’s aluminum company, United Co. 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