00:00NATO leaders are imploring U.S. President Donald Trump to reverse his decision to ease sanctions on Russian oil.
00:07Overnight on Thursday, Trump said he would temporarily lift the sanctions to increase global oil supply amid soaring prices due
00:15to the war in Iran.
00:16Speaking at NATO's cold response military exercise in the Arctic, the leaders of Germany, Norway and Canada said that removing
00:23sanctions, albeit temporarily, against Russia was a wrong move.
00:27As you all know, we had a videoconference with the G7 leaders on Wednesday, and six out of seven were
00:38clearly the opinion that we should not release the sanctions against Russia.
00:47And we were a little bit surprised that we hope this morning that the American government decide differently.
00:55This is definitely not our view.
00:57In terms of a G7 meeting, I'm sure there will be additional G7 meetings.
01:03The convening of those meetings is the responsibility of the presidency.
01:08We all have direct lines into the president and we'll use them.
01:12Oil prices have spiked to a high not seen since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
01:17The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which is flanked by Iran and is a passage for one-fifth
01:23of the world's oil output, means crude oil prices have remained high despite this easing.
01:29Moscow has welcomed Trump's decision, saying that the U.S. and Russia are aligned.
01:34German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius says he's concerned about the impact on the war in Ukraine.
01:39Now Russia will have access to more revenue.
01:42How worried are you about the impact of Donald Trump's decision to allow Russia to earn millions of dollars in
01:48oil revenue, the impact that's going to have on Ukraine and also for NATO security, then that it has so
01:53much more money?
01:53I'm very much concerned.
01:54I mean, the only thing at the end to really force Putin at the negotiation table is to make clear
02:01that his revenues out of export of oil and gas will find an end.
02:05And this is the opposite of that. And for that, it's just a real disadvantage to be diplomatic for Ukraine.
02:14Well, as we heard there from all three leaders, they fundamentally disagree with Donald Trump's decision to allow Russia to
02:19earn millions, potentially billions of dollars from oil revenue.
02:22They say they're going to lobby him to try to get him to change his mind. It's not clear if
02:26that's going to happen.
02:26But the wider question, of course, is the impact that this is going to have on the war in Ukraine
02:31and wider NATO security.
02:33Shona Murray, Uranus, Bardifus, Norway.
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