Meloni: US-Russia Diesel Deal a Risky Option

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Wednesday that the agreement between the United States and Russia regarding diesel supplies is "a very risky option" and contradicts efforts to force Russian President Vladimir Putin to sit at the negotiating table with Ukraine, according to Reuters.

The United States and Russia announced last week that they had agreed for Moscow to initially supply more than 300,000 tons of diesel to the United States and global markets.

Meloni told the Italian Parliament ahead of this week's European Union summit, "The outcome of this decision is uncertain, while the risks are clear."

She added, "It grants legitimacy to Moscow while its bombs continue to fall on Ukrainian cities, generates new revenues to fund the war, and implicitly weakens the effectiveness of sanctions."

US President Donald Trump stated that the deal would lower energy prices in the United States, an issue posing significant political challenges for his Republican party ahead of the congressional midterm elections.

Meloni noted that EU member states should appoint "an authoritative figure" to negotiate on behalf of Europe regarding the Russia-Ukraine war, without ruling out a formal mandate for the European troika comprising Germany, France, and Britain.

She said, "If France, Germany, and Britain believe they can achieve better results alone than what we can all achieve together—and until now, that has been the option chosen by those countries—then let them at least do so on behalf of everyone with a formal mandate."