Russia’s RDIF Says US Treasury Sought Help on Diesel Deal

The striking element is the direction of the request: a US Treasury approach to a Russian sovereign fund for help structuring payments suggests the practical plumbing of a bilateral energy transaction is being worked outside the usual sanctions-constrained channels. That matters for anyone tracking how Russian energy flows are financed and intermediated, since payment routing has been the binding constraint, not supply. Whether this reflects a narrow, tactical arrangement or something broader is the open question, and the details of how those payments are actually cleared are worth watching.