Candace

🇺🇲 🇷🇺 🇺🇦 The Lukoil deal was never a one-off. The FT now reports it sits inside a broader US-Russia list of "Business Deals." The Financial Times reports that the US and Russia are discussing a possible return of American companies to the Russian oil market as part of talks to end the war in Ukraine. The FT says it obtained a lengthy written list of proposed deals. According to the FT, the list includes a postwar joint venture for US oil majors off Sakhalin and a US role in Russian oil sales to Europe through the Druzhba pipeline. Outlets relaying the FT add partial Russian airspace transit for US airlines, titanium cooperation, gas to Europe through what remains of Nord Stream, and a sale of Lukoil's international assets to investors with White House ties. That last item is the deal we flagged on October 3, after the New York Times reported Putin personally raised the Lukoil sale with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner at the Kremlin on September 5. Today's report suggests that conversation was one line in a much larger commercial package running alongside the peace track. The FT says the current talks build on proposals Witkoff and Kushner discussed with Kirill Dmitriev, Putin's special economic envoy, late last year, and that the push stalled as Ukraine resisted Russian demands for territorial concessions as a precondition for talks. One person briefed on the deals told the FT: "Dmitriev's plan was waiting until the war froze, but the clock is ticking and war is not stopping, so they have made a decision to move forward now." A US official told the FT that envoys have discussed economic proposals with both sides, including a postwar framework for Ukraine and potential cooperation with Russia after the war. "Nothing is final," the official said. The obstacles remain large. ExxonMobil, whose 30% Sakhalin-1 stake was seized, said last year it had no plans to return, per the FT. Rosneft and Lukoil remain under US sanctions imposed in October 2025, and any deal would depend on a settlement and sanctions relief. The strategic question is sequencing. Moscow is offering Washington commercial upside before any ceasefire, while Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy grid continue. Earlier this month the Kremlin declined to comment on the Lukoil report but said energy cooperation is discussed with US negotiators. The Kremlin, the White House, Kyiv and the EU have not yet commented on the FT list.