U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent announced on October 22 sanctions on Russia's two largest oil companies and urged Russia and Ukraine to immediately cease fire.

Bescent said in a statement that the U.S. sanctions target Russian state-owned enterprise Rosneft and private enterprise Lukoil. The statement did not explicitly mention the effective date of the sanctions.

Bloomberg estimates that the two companies¡¯ crude oil exports together account for 50% of Russia¡¯s total crude oil exports.

In the statement, Bescent accused Russia of refusing to cease fire and accused sanctioned Russian oil companies of providing funds for Russia's special military operations against Ukraine. He said that the U.S. Treasury Department is ready to "take further action if necessary" to support President Trump's efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict. He also called on U.S. allies to join and abide by U.S. sanctions against Russia.

White House officials confirmed on the 21st that the planned meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the Ukrainian issue in Budapest, Hungary has been "shelved". In an interview with Fox Business News on the 22nd, Bescent said that Trump was disappointed that there was no progress in Russia-Ukraine negotiations after the meeting between US and Russian leaders in Alaska in August.

Earlier that day, EU member states agreed on the 19th round of sanctions against Russia. According to European media reports, the rotating EU presidency Denmark announced this news. The EU summit expected on 23rd will formally approve the 19th round of sanctions against Russia.

According to the report, Slovakia became the last EU member state to agree to this round of sanctions after the demands of energy prices, emission reduction targets and domestic automobile industry were met.

According to a previous statement issued by the European Commission, this round of sanctions against Russia mainly involves energy, finance and other fields. The European Union will ban Russian liquefied natural gas from the European market for the first time and cut the price cap on Russian crude oil to $47.6 per barrel; Rosneft, Gazprom Neft will face full trading ban; The European Union will expand its transaction ban on financial institutions in Russia and other countries, and include cryptocurrency platforms in sanctions for the first time.