US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he will not negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin unless the Russian leader shows a genuine intention to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.
“I’m going to have to know we’re going to make a deal. I’m not going to waste any time,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he headed to Asia.
“I’ve always had a great relationship with Vladimir Putin, but this is very disappointing,” the US leader said. “I thought it would have been done before peace in the Middle East.
On Wednesday, the United States imposed sanctions on Russia’s two biggest oil companies, saying talks with Vladimir Putin about the war in Ukraine were going nowhere.
A day after imposing sanctions on two major Russian oil companies, the Trump administration is now planning more sanctions against Russia if Vladimir Putin prolongs the war in Ukraine.
A US official said the new sanctions against Russia are designed to target critical sectors of the Russian economy, with a focus on banking and oil infrastructure.
U.S. officials have also signaled to their European counterparts that they support the EU using frozen Russian assets to buy U.S. weapons for Kiev, and Washington has also opened internal discussions about using Russian assets held in the U.S. to support Ukraine’s war effort, according to two officials cited by Reuters.
Trump has been delaying pulling the trigger on sanctions against Russia for months, but his patience ran out after plans for a new summit with Putin in Budapest collapsed.
Nevertheless, the Republican billionaire said he hoped the sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil were short-lived and that “the war will be settled.”
What did Putin say?
Putin admitted the sanctions were “severe” but insisted they were “not enough” to significantly damage Russia’s economy.
Putin said: “Sanctions are, of course, serious for us, that’s clear. And they will have some consequences, but they will not significantly affect our economic well-being.”
But the Russian leader said he remains open to dialogue with Trump.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the US sanctions “a strong and much-needed message that aggression will not go unanswered.” The European Union has imposed tough sanctions on the Russian oil and gas sector in parallel with the US measures.
