Exxon Mobil Fined For Russian Sanctions Breach

When Putin puppet and demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump was looking for a Secretary of State, he wanted someone with the same love for Mother Russia and their money as he has. Thus, he turned to former Exxon Mobil CEO Rex "Rexxon" Tillerson, who not only had made big oil deals with Moscow, but who also was awarded Russia's Order of Friendship by Russian thug and kleptocrat Vladimir "Vlad the Invader" Putin. 

When the sanctions were imposed on Moscow in 2014 in reaction to their invasion of Crimea and their military intrusion into eastern Ukraine, Rexxon was crestfallen, as the sanctions stood in the way of Exxon making enormous profits from Russia's Arctic oil exploration. Today, the Treasury Department imposed a largely symbolic $2 million fine on Exxon Mobil for violating the sanctions while Rexxon was its CEO by signing a confidential deal with a Russian oil executive whose assets were blocked by the sanctions. In a statement, the Treasury Department said, “Exxon Mobil demonstrated reckless disregard for U.S. sanctions requirements." Shamelessly, Exxon Mobil continues to push their corporate interests over U.S. interests, having sought a waiver just last April from the sanctions to drill in the Black Sea in partnership with Russia's state-conrolled oil company Rosneft, a request which was denied by Treasury. Rexxon is still trying to sell Congress on "flexibility" with regard to sanctions on Russia, a position that should raise questions about whether he represents Exxon Mobil or Moscow, or both,

It's no wonder that the only U.S. person acceptable to the Kremlin besides Rump for the private bilateral meeting with Putin during the G-20 summit was Rexxon himself. Rump chose his Secretary of State wisely, at least as far as Moscow was concerned.