Should the UK lift sanctions on Russian petrol and diesel to bring down fuel prices?
The UK bans imports of Russian oil and refined products, including those made from Russian crude in third countries, and sanctions Russian oil firms. Diesel and jet fuel refined abroad from Russian crude are temporarily exempt under a May 2026 licence, which the government said in June 2026 will end on 1 January 2027. Pump prices are near 52-week highs, with diesel about 200p a litre in mid-October 2026 after the Iran war disrupted global supply, and the US recently eased its own sanctions on Russian diesel.
11 Opinions
Russia doesn’t have enough capacity to export globally significant amounts of diesel given their domestic requirements and other export commitments. The issue is rooted in the Middle East. Also, the US position is not set in stone. There’s a lot of fanfare but Trump’s actions will likely come into conflict with the Ending Importation of Russian Oil Act. Whether or not Congress actually slaps him back is another question. The current “deal” is a drop in the ocean.
No, we'd be doing the same as Trump, changing our loyalties. Where will this fuel originally come from? Iran? We're meant to be supporting Ukraine, not funding Russia to keep attacking them.
No. We should lift the ban on fracking and bring down energy prices by producing our own fossil fuels in the short term. In the medium term we should concentrate on providing our own nuclear power, and in the long term we should be investing massively in research to make fusion a viable power source.
Yes. Its just business. The Russian/Ukraine conflict is not our concern.
I hate that I'm leaning this way, because I'm very much into supporting Ukraine and the freedom of European nations to not be attacked by Russia.... However, what the hell was the point of all this sanctioning Russian oil and taking the hit across our forecourts when Trump just comes in and undermines the collective European effort to cut Russia off?!... Let's just join the US because, quite frankly, why should we be the ones suffering over this?!
We should be looking to do more to support Ukraine, not less
Since the beginning it was not UK's war to participate. We still trade with Russia despite sanctions, I see no reason why not to lift them completely and trade further. And of course there are loops to utilize now if we want to.