Good morning. The Trump administration is imposing substantial new sanctions on Russia, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday.

“Now is the time to stop the killing and for an immediate ceasefire,” said Bessent.

• The context: The new sanctions, which would be the first direct U.S. measures on Russia during the second Trump administration, target Russia’s two largest oil companies, Lukoil and Rosneft, as well as nearly three dozen of their subsidiaries. Oil is one of Russia’s largest economic revenue sources.
   
• The background: The sanctions come as negotiations over ending the war in Ukraine have stalled, with President Trump putting off a planned second summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest. The imposition of sanctions are aimed at sending a clear signal that Trump’s patience with Putin is wearing thin as he looks for ways to pressure Russia into a peace deal that ends nearly four years of fighting.
   
• Compliance risks: The Treasury Department, in its sanctions notice released on Wednesday, also warned that  “foreign financial institutions that conduct or facilitate significant transactions or provide any service involving Russia’s military-industrial base” also “run the risk of being sanctioned.” Treasury added that transactions with the newly-designated entities “may risk the imposition of secondary sanctions on participating foreign financial institutions.”

Also: 

• U.S. Lifts Key Restriction on Ukraine’s Use of Western Long-Range Missiles
• Latvia Seeks Charges for Moscow House Managers for Sanctions Violations (Risk Journal) 

Canada hits crypto platform with record $127 million fine.

Cryptocurrency platform Cryptomus has been ordered to pay 177 million Canadian dollars for allegedly failing to report transactions that could have been related to sanctions evasion, ransomware payments and other crimes in the largest fine ever for Canada’s anti-money-laundering enforcer, Risk Journal’s Richard Vanderford reports. 

The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, or Fintrac, on Wednesday announced the penalty, which is equivalent to about $127 million, against the British Columbia-incorporated platform legally known as Xeltox Enterprises.

U.S., Qatar criticize EU climate reporting law in letter to member states.

The U.S. and Qatar sent a joint letter to the heads of European Union member states asking the bloc to repeal its corporate sustainability rules or scrap some of the provisions.

The letter from U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Qatari Minister of State for Energy Affairs Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi sent on Wednesday said the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive will have unintended consequences for liquefied natural gas exports and the availability of affordable energy for EU consumers. According to the European Union, the CSDDD is designed to oblige large corporations to identify and address adverse human rights and environmental impacts of their actions inside and outside Europe.

Meanwhile, companies seeking clarity on European Union climate regulations will have to wait after lawmakers rejected a compromise proposal by the European Commission to simplify rules for sustainability reporting and due diligence obligations, Risk Journal reports. 

Also: 

• Financing Climate Adaptation ‘Is Not Optional,’ Says U.N. Climate Secretary

• The U.K.’s competition watchdog said it would strengthen its monitoring of Alphabet’s Google and Apple mobile ecosystems under a new law governing business conduct for Big Tech, a setback for the companies as they face added scrutiny across the Atlantic.
   
• Conservative activist Robby Starbuck filed a defamation lawsuit against Google alleging its artificial-intelligence tools falsely connected Starbuck to sexual-assault claims and to a white nationalist.
   
• OpenAI twice loosened ChatGPT’s rules for discussing suicide in the year before 16-year-old Adam Raine took his own life using a method the chatbot advised him on, according to an amended lawsuit filed by his parents on Wednesday.
   
• Barclays said it reviewed its entire credit book for financial weakness and other red flags after losing nearly $150 million from the sudden bankruptcy of subprime auto lender Tricolor.

A U.S. plan splits Gaza in two—one zone controlled by Israel, one by Hamas. 

The U.S. and Israel are considering a plan that would divide Gaza into separate zones controlled by Israel and Hamas, with reconstruction only taking place on the Israeli side as a stopgap until the militant group can be disarmed and removed from power.

Vice President JD Vance and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner summarized the thinking in a news conference Tuesday in Israel, where they had arrived to press both sides to abide by the current cease-fire, under which Israel pulled back its troops so that it now controls about 53% of the enclave.

• U.N. Court Says Israel Must Allow Unrwa Aid Into Gaza

Fed lost access to private jobs data ahead of government shutdown.

Federal Reserve officials, who are unable to receive U.S. economic statistics because of the continuing government shutdown, recently lost access to a separate measure of employment data from a third-party provider.

• The U.S. said Wednesday it had struck a suspected drug boat on the Pacific side of South America, signaling a widening of its campaign against alleged drug trafficking and transnational crime.
   
• President Trump’s trade war is accelerating plans to expand the biggest eastern container port—in Canada.
   
• The National Hockey League has reached licensing agreements with prediction-market startups Kalshi and Polymarket, boosting their efforts to disrupt traditional sportsbook operators such as DraftKings and FanDuel.

• A Trump nominee to lead a White House ethics watchdog office has been withdrawn, following a report that he made racist and antisemitic comments in a text chain.
   
• There was just one surveillance camera in the area where thieves parked a truck-mounted lift to rob the Louvre Museum—and it was pointed in the wrong direction.
   
• President Trump has privately told allies he believes Democrat Zohran Mamdani is unbeatable in the New York City mayor’s race, according to people familiar with the matter.

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