After the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022, the United States and Europe acted decisively to impose severe sanctions on Russian financial institutions, which once put Russia's financial institutions on the brink of collapse.

In the following two years, the US sanctions have continued to increase, even affecting third-party countries and companies that trade with Russia, especially in the energy sector.

However, on November 10 of this year, the US Treasury Department suddenly announced a temporary measure lifting sanctions on 11 Russian financial institutions, allowing them to engage in trading activities related to the energy sector.

This "release of water" has a deadline, only until April 30 next year. What happens then? You never know. The United States may continue to ease restrictions, or it may re-tighten sanctions.

Undoubtedly, this decision will directly affect the production, processing, transportation and procurement of energy resources such as oil, gas, coal and timber in Russia.