Treasury · Sunday, October 11, 2026
Treasury lets Russian diesel be sold into the U.S. through April 7
The File desk · Oct 11, 2026, 11:11 AM UTC
Status
Confirmed. Legal instrument A Treasury permission that, despite Russia sanctions, allows Russian-origin diesel to be bought, shipped, and imported, including into the United States, until April 7, 2027.Russia-related General License 135
- Confirmed
The license allows the sale, delivery, unloading, and import of Russian-origin diesel, including into the United States, through 12:01 a.m. Eastern on April 7, 2027.
- Confirmed
The only link to the Oct. 5 diesel order is the calendar. No document ties the license to that order.
U.S. sanctions generally bar dealings in Russian oil products. On Friday the Treasury Department's sanctions office issued a license that makes an exception for diesel. It allows the sale, delivery, unloading, and importing of Russian-origin diesel, including into the United States, until April 7, 2027. Payments still cannot be drawn on U.S. accounts of Russia's central bank, its national wealth fund, or its finance ministry. Treasury published the license without a press release. It comes four days after President Trump signed Legal instrument The order President Trump signed Oct. 5, 2026. It lets drivers use untaxed red-dye diesel on highways from Oct. 5 through Dec. 31 and tells Treasury to put off the federal diesel tax on that fuel, without interest or penalties, if 26 U.S.C. § 7508A allows it. The tax is deferred, not erased. The order is now in the Federal Register as document 2026-20855, published Oct. 9, 2026. Treasury has not posted a § 7508A finding.Emergency Tax Relief on Diesel Fuel
Legal instrument A Treasury permission that, despite Russia sanctions, allows Russian-origin diesel to be bought, shipped, and imported, including into the United States, until April 7, 2027. Legal instrument Treasury's two main rulebooks for sanctions on Russia: the harmful-foreign-activities program and the Ukraine-related program. Those names come from the license header. No start dates were fetched.Russia-related General License 135
31 CFR parts 587 and 589
The File's Oct. 6 story covered Legal instrument The order President Trump signed Oct. 5, 2026. It lets drivers use untaxed red-dye diesel on highways from Oct. 5 through Dec. 31 and tells Treasury to put off the federal diesel tax on that fuel, without interest or penalties, if 26 U.S.C. § 7508A allows it. The tax is deferred, not erased. The order is now in the Federal Register as document 2026-20855, published Oct. 9, 2026. Treasury has not posted a § 7508A finding.Emergency Tax Relief on Diesel Fuel
What is still unknown or disputed
- Why the license was issued now.
- What volume of diesel it is expected to cover.
- Whether a questions-and-answers sheet accompanies it. None was seen.
- Whether allies were consulted.
Primary sources
Every claim in this story is drawn from the documents below. If a fetch failed, that is recorded on the card.
Source 1
Issuance of Russia-related General License
U.S. Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control · October 9, 2026
The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is issuing
, 'Authorizing Transactions Related to the Sale, Delivery, Offloading, and Importation of Diesel Fuel of Russian Federation Origin.'Legal instrument
Russia-related General License 135
A Treasury permission that, despite Russia sanctions, allows Russian-origin diesel to be bought, shipped, and imported, including into the United States, until April 7, 2027.
https://ofac.treasury.gov/recent-actions/20261009_33
Source 2
Russia-related General License No. 135
U.S. Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control · October 9, 2026
that are related to the sale, delivery, offloading, or importation, including importation into the United States, of diesel fuel of Russian Federation origin are authorized through 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time, April 7, 2027.
https://ofac.treasury.gov/media/937216/download?inline
Source 3
Emergency tax relief on diesel fuel
The File · October 6, 2026
On Monday night President Trump signed an order,
, that tells the Treasury Department to stop that for now.Legal instrument
Emergency Tax Relief on Diesel Fuel
The order President Trump signed Oct. 5, 2026. It lets drivers use untaxed red-dye diesel on highways from Oct. 5 through Dec. 31 and tells Treasury to put off the federal diesel tax on that fuel, without interest or penalties, if 26 U.S.C. § 7508A allows it. The tax is deferred, not erased. The order is now in the Federal Register as document 2026-20855, published Oct. 9, 2026. Treasury has not posted a § 7508A finding.
/story/wh-diesel-red-dye-tax-deferral-oct5