Bessent open to increasing sanctions on Russia

The Hill ^ | 1/16/2025 | ALEXANDER BOLTON

[marcusmaximus]

Treasury Secretary-nominee Scott Bessent told senators Thursday that he would be “100 percent on board” with increasing sanctions on Russia’s major oil companies if President-elect Trump supports that strategy as a way to end the war in Ukraine.

“If any officials in the Russian Federation are watching this confirmation hearing, they should know that if I’m confirmed and if President Trump requests as part of his strategy to end the Ukraine war, that I will be 100 percent on board for taking sanctions up, especially on the Russian oil majors, to levels that would bring the Russia Federation to the table,” Bessent said when asked about sanctions against Russia by Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.).

Bessent called the war in Ukraine “one of the greatest tragedies of my adult life.”

“And ending that as soon as possible, and any role the Treasury can play in that — if confirmed, I would like to do,” he said.

Bessent argued that the Biden administration’s sanctions on Russia “were not fulsome enough.”

[Owen]

Nah, they are classmates with the senior Russian military officers. At age 19 they were at Russian universities with the local equivalent of ROTC and service academies.

That’s why they were selected. They are friends of decades.

[NorseViking]

Lol. Be a little bit recent. It is 35 years since they last time have been in the same school.

[Owen]

It takes that long to advance. Anytime pre 2014, btw. That’s where students went — to Russia universities.

Senior officers will be 50+.

[NorseViking]

Ukraine’s military is dominated by the US since 1993. Most with ties to Russia are long purged.

[Owen]

You are going to have to believe me when I describe this search.

Ukraine generals — there is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Staff_of_the_Ukrainian_Armed_Forces

It gave a list of positions and then, scrolling, names occupying them. I didn’t want the most prominent so scroll and this is the part to believe, the very first name I chose was a guy Sergii Naiev. Not all the links were purple or red or blue (clickable). His was.

This was the very first name grabbed and his click says

Naiev was born on 30 April 1970, in Mohyliv-Podilskyi, Vinnytsia Oblast, and pursued his education from 1987 to 1991 at the Moscow Higher Military Command School, attaining the rank of lieutenant upon completion.[3][4]

I don’t want to spend much time on this so one more name

Oleksiy Neizhpapa was born on 9 October 1975 in Sevastopol, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. He graduated from Nakhimov Naval Academy in 1997. (The Admiral Nakhimov Higher Naval School [a] is a higher naval education institution of Russia which prepares future officers for the Russian Navy.)

These are the guys CIA and MI6 have to watch. For the overall scenario presented. Multi decade friendships with their classmates. But that is from a coup perspective. If the US and Russia agrees to Ukraine senior military running the govt, no need for coup.