U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says Europe is “financing the Russian war machine” through continued trade with Moscow

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday that European countries are continuing to finance Russia’s war effort through purchases of Russian energy and other goods, while relying on Washington to carry a larger share of the pressure on Moscow.

Bessent made the remarks in an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on October 18. He said European countries had given Russia and President Vladimir Putin more money than they had provided to Ukraine and accused them of continuing to depend on Russian energy.

“The Europeans are financing the Russian war machine,” Bessent said. He contrasted European trade with Russia with U.S. imports, saying the United States imports about $4 billion in Russian products, including roughly $1.8 billion in fertilizer, while Europe imports more than ten times as much.

Bessent also defended President Donald Trump’s decision not to immediately impose a new package of Russia-related sanctions and tariffs. He said no existing sanctions had been lifted on Friday and that the administration was using a 60-day period to assess the economic effects of additional measures. He said the only measure lifted was an embargo affecting Russian diesel.

He also pointed to Britain’s decision in May to temporarily allow imports of diesel and jet fuel refined in third countries from Russian crude, asking why European actions had not drawn similar criticism.

Bessent rejected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s suggestion that the U.S. had deliberately restricted satellite communications used by Ukraine. He said Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio had denied that anyone in the administration ordered restrictions and called it “very reckless” for Zelenskyy to make such a statement.

Asked about Zelenskyy’s warning that Ukraine could not prevail if the U.S. sided with Russia, Bessent rejected the premise and cited continued U.S. intelligence support, satellite communications and American weapons sold through NATO to Ukraine.

He also questioned why European NATO members had not provided more Patriot air-defense systems to Kyiv, saying: “They have plenty of Patriots. Why aren’t they forthcoming with the Patriots? Where is Germany?”