Unraveling claim Trump lifted sanctions on Russia in June 2025

In late June 2025, social media customers shared a screenshot of a Division of Treasury doc that they claimed confirmed that U.S. President Donald Trump had “lifted sanctions on Russia.”

For instance, one X post that includes the picture, that had amassed greater than 230,000 views as of this writing (archived), learn: “BREAKING: Donald Trump lifts sanctions on Russia, permitting U.S. transactions with sanctioned Russian banks — together with Sberbank, VTB and even the Central Financial institution — for civil nuclear tasks.”

The doc was titled “Normal License No. 115B – Authorizing Sure Transactions Associated to Civil Nuclear Power.” Normal License No. 115B (GL 115B) — issued by the Treasury’s Workplace of Overseas Property Management on June 27, 2025 — approved particular restricted transactions with sure sanctioned Russian entities.

(X consumer @levparnas)

The declare appeared elsewhere on X and in numerous iterations on Instagram, Bluesky, Facebook, Reddit, Imgur, YouTube and Threads.

This led many to consider that the Trump administration had reversed U.S. sanctions on Russia. Nevertheless, whereas the doc circulating in social media posts was actual, it was not a sweeping order from Trump. Moderately, it was an replace to a license first issued below the administration of former President Joe Biden.

The one main modifications have been the elimination of a restriction on a Russian-backed nuclear challenge in Hungary and the extension of the date till which transactions with sure sanctioned Russian entities might be approved. There was no proof Trump lifted all sanctions on Russia or made a broad coverage shift.

As The New York Occasions reported in early July 2025, since Trump took workplace in January, the U.S. had not issued any new sanctions associated to Russia’s conflict in Ukraine and in some instances had eased restrictions. In that broader context, whereas the GL 115B doc utilized solely to civil nuclear vitality tasks that started earlier than November 2024 and contained solely two substantive modifications to the prior model of the license, as outlined beneath, it mirrored a extra permissive strategy to Russia sanctions that has raised issues amongst commentators.

Supply and background of the doc

The total textual content of GL 115B is publicly available on the Treasury’s web site. That hyperlink reveals the license was issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, an company throughout the Treasury, on June 27, 2025 — throughout Trump’s second time period in workplace — below an government order that was signed by Biden throughout his administration.

Biden signed EO 14024 on April 15, 2021. The order is titled “Government Order on Blocking Property with Respect to Specified Dangerous Overseas Actions of the Authorities of the Russian Federation.”

Trump’s GL 115B permitted participating in sure transactions with quite a few sanctioned Russian entities, together with main monetary establishments like Sberbank, VTB and the Russian Central Financial institution. These transactions, which have been beforehand prohibited below EO 14024, have been approved by way of Dec. 19, 2025, however provided that they’re associated to civil nuclear vitality tasks that started earlier than Nov. 21, 2024. 

In accordance with the Treasury’s FAQ section, “civil nuclear vitality” refers to nonmilitary makes use of like energy technology, uranium processing and the operation of civil nuclear vitality tasks. The web site additionally underscored that GL 115B “doesn’t authorize, as an illustration, transactions involving sure sanctioned Russian monetary establishments associated to the event of recent civil nuclear vitality energy vegetation after November 21, 2024.”

GL 115B was a revision of earlier licenses. It changed GL 115A, which was issued throughout Biden’s administration on Jan. 10, 2025. GL 115A permitted participating in almost all the identical transactions with the identical sanctioned Russian entities as GL 115B; nevertheless, it gave authorization till June 30, 2025. Subsequently, GL 115B merely prolonged that authorization by way of Dec. 19, 2025. In that sense, GL 115B was a revision of a preexisting license fairly than a sweeping new coverage initiated solely by Trump. The unique Normal License (GL 115) was issued on Dec. 18, 2024, and utilized solely to 1 entity — Gazprombank Joint Inventory Firm.

GL 115B was almost equivalent to GL 115A, besides it eliminated the prohibition on transactions associated to the Paks II nuclear energy plant challenge in Hungary, which is a Russian-backed initiative (see the related a part of GL 115A beneath).

(U.S. Division of the Treasury)

GL 115B omitted this prohibition, that means that such transactions would now be allowed below this license until individually restricted by different sanctions or rules. 

A Treasury spokesperson stated through e-mail: “The Trump administration has not lifted sanctions; all sanctions stay in impact, and there was no change to our sanctions coverage in regard to Russia. This normal license is a continuation of a GL initially granted in 2024 below the Biden Administration.”

Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s minister of overseas affairs and commerce, wrote on X on June 29, 2025: “The US has lifted sanctions that blocked development of the Paks II nuclear plant. These politically motivated measures have been imposed by the Biden admin simply earlier than @realDonaldTrump took workplace. Grateful to the Trump admin, as this challenge will assure our future vitality provide.”

(X consumer @FM_Szijjarto)

Over time, Snopes has fact-checked quite a few viral claims involving Trump and Russia. As an illustration, in Might 2024, we investigated whether or not Trump as soon as said that he wouldn’t defend NATO allies in the event that they have been attacked by Russia. We additionally looked at a declare accusing Ukraine of promoting weapons on the black market — that have been offered by the U.S. and different nations — amid its conflict with Russia.