Did Trump Lift Sanctions on Russian Arms Exporter Rosoboronexport?

No, the US has not lifted sanctions on a major Russian arms dealer by mistake while reviewing the Syria sanctions.

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to revoke a series of sanctions on Syria to “support the country’s path to stability and peace,” as he promised during an earlier visit to Saudi Arabia.

Some Ukrainian media, in a Wednesday report, claimed that the US “accidentally” removed a series of Russian entities from the sanctions whilst citing another report by The Moscow Times.

Upon reviewing the evidence, Kyiv Post determines that while certain entities mentioned were struck off the list, such as a Russian oligarch and his affiliated businesses – presumably due to their connections to the ousted regime in Syria – Ukraine-related sanctions placed on an arms exporter remained in place following the updates.

The Moscow Times article also did not say sanctions on the arms exporter were lifted.

Kyiv Post issued a social media update on Wednesday but later retracted it and issued a clarification upon reviewing the evidence.

Supposedly lifted sanctions

The article claimed that Rosoboronexport, a Russian arms exporter, had its sanctions lifted.

“US President Donald Trump, while lifting sanctions against Syria, ‘accidentally’ removed certain Russian institutions, banks, and individuals from the sanctions list. Among them was Rosoboronexport, the state agency responsible for exporting Russian weapons to other countries, according to The Moscow Times,” the article states.

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It then went on to list entities that supposedly had their sanctions revoked.

The Moscow Times did not list Rosoboronexport among those whose sanctions were lifted. It merely states that the firm was mentioned on the updated list due to its Syrian connections.

“Other Russian companies were also subject to Syrian sanctions: Ilyumzhinov’s Russian Financial Alliance Bank (its license was revoked in 2016), Tempbank (its license was revoked in 2017), Iran’s Mir Business Bank, RFK-Bank, Promsyriemport, Rosoboronexport, Global Concepts Group, Global Vision Group, STG Logistic, Maritime Assistance, and others,” The Moscow Times reported.

But what exactly did the US Treasury Department say?

Who was struck off the list?

All the entities mentioned were listed in the Treasury Department’s update on Syria sanctions – under different designations.

Of those, Russian oligarch Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and businesses related to him were, indeed, struck off the list.

Ilyumzhinov was listed as among those who have been deleted from the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (OFAC’s SDN List).

And so are some of the businesses related to him, including some financial institutions, since they were presumably placed under sanctions for aiding Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Rosoboronexport, however, falls under a different list where only changes are made without having the luxury of being struck off altogether.

Decoding the sanction update

Specifically, the company only has the [SYRIA] tag removed, while all other tags in brackets are retained.

The brackets indicate what sanctions authority applies. In the case of Rosoboronexport, all other sanctions – namely [UKRAINE-EO13662], [IRAN-CON-ARMS-EO] and [RUSSIA-EO14024] – remain.

• [UKRAINE-EO13662] refers to Ukraine-related sanctions under Executive Order 13662 signed in 2014, after Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, that remain in force.
• [IRAN-CON-ARMS-EO] refers to Executive Order 13949, signed by Trump and in place since 2020 during his first term.
• [RUSSIA-EO14024] refers to Executive Order 14024 against Russia signed by former US President Joe Biden in 2021.

The US Treasury lists the definition of each tag on its site. In short, Rosoboronexport is still under US sanctions.

The situation aligns with a senior US official’s comments to Kyiv Post that all existing sanctions on Russia remain in place under the Trump administration.

What about the [SYRIA] tag?

The [SYRIA] tag removed from Rosoboronexport’s sanction descriptions is an umbrella tag that refers to six major executive orders related to Syria – namely Executive Order 13338, Executive Order 13399, Executive Order 13460, Executive Order 13572, Executive Order 13573 and Executive Order 13582.

“The names of persons designated or identified as blocked pursuant to E.O. 13338, E.O. 13399, E.O. 13460, E.O. 13572, E.O. 13573, E.O. 13582, E.O. 13606, or any further Executive orders issued pursuant to the national emergency declared in E.O. 13338, whose property and interests in property therefore are blocked pursuant to this section, are published in the Federal Register and incorporated into OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN List) using the following identifiers: for E.O. 13338, E.O. 13399, E.O. 13460, E.O. 13572, E.O. 13573, or E.O. 13582: “[SYRIA],” a footnote to the sanctions explained.