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Donald Trump’s telephone call with Vladimir Putin last Friday was supposed to be about a suspected outbreak of plague in Russia, but it ended, as their conversations tend to, with a deal. Russia, the President announced, would supply America with more than 300,000 tons of diesel immediately, 500,000 tons in November, a million tons “immediately thereafter” and another three million “within a short period of time.” The Treasury issued a license exempting Russian diesel from American sanctions until April.
In the same breath, Trump proclaimed another energy ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv, the second in a month, and took another swipe at Volodymyr Zelensky, whom he would plainly like to see replaced at the ballot box. Russia marked the truce, a few hours later, by striking a power station in the Kharkiv region.
The diesel arithmetic is unflattering to everyone involved. The first tranche of 300,000 tons amounts to about 2.2 million barrels – or roughly half a day of American distillate consumption, which runs at around four million barrels a day. Even if all 4.8 million tons materialize – and Ukraine, which has been targeting Russian refineries for months, will have something to say about that – they would cover barely nine days of demand spread over six months
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