Russia earns $4bn a month from NATO states’ oil purchases — journalist

International editor of Radio Liberty Rostyslav Khotyn said this on Espreso.

“Regarding secondary sanctions against China, Trump is pushing NATO members to jointly impose sanctions on China’s purchase of discounted Russian oil. One important detail is that Trump is addressing NATO states, not the EU. Russian oil is being bought not only by EU members Slovakia and Hungary. The world’s third-largest buyer of Russian oil, after China and India, is NATO member Turkey. For Trump, it is crucial to press Turkey to stop buying Russian oil,” Khotyn noted.

According to him, much attention is usually given to Slovakia and Hungary via the Druzhba pipeline.

“However, Turkey buys much more Russian oil, and therefore pays much more, than Slovakia and Hungary. Every month Russia receives $4 billion from NATO countries for oil supplies. That is why Trump insists that if secondary sanctions against China are to be introduced, they should be implemented together with NATO members — meaning primarily Turkey, not just Hungary and Slovakia,” the journalist emphasized.

• Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Russia’s war against Ukraine would end in 60–90 days if Europe introduced tougher secondary sanctions on Russian oil buyers.