WASHINGTON: United States (US) President Donald Trump on Tuesday indicated he may impose fresh sanctions on Russia if President Vladimir Putin refuses to negotiate a deal to end the war in Ukraine.
“Sounds like it,” Trump told reporters at the White House, when asked if the United States would apply additional sanctions on Moscow if the Russian president did not come to the table.
Prior to his inauguration on Monday, Trump vowed to end the Ukraine war immediately upon taking office, raising expectations he would leverage aid to force Kyiv to make concessions to Russia, which invaded in February 2022.
In unusually critical remarks of Putin, Trump said on Monday that the Russian president “should make a deal.”
“I think he’s destroying Russia by not making a deal.”
Trump added that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had told him that he wanted a peace agreement to end the war.
I think he’s [Putin] destroying Russia by not making a deal.” – US President Donald Trump
Despite hopes after Trump’s return, the fate talks hang in balance.
Putin commends Trump
During a Russian National Security Council meeting on Monday, Putin commended Trump’s intention to resume contacts between Russia and the US that had been halted under Biden.
According to Russia Today, he, however, stressed that dialogue can only happen on an “equal and mutually respectful basis.”
The authorities in Moscow have noted statements by the new US president and his team about their desire to restore communication links and “about the need to do everything to prevent World War Three,” the Russian leader stressed. “Of course, we welcome such an attitude and congratulate the elected US president on taking office,” he added.
The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Putin and Xi held a phone conversation, during which they discussed the Ukraine conflict, Western sanctions and Russia’s potential engagement with the Trump administration.