Trump threatens Moscow with sanctions

War of aggression against Ukraine

Trump threatens Moscow with sanctions – warns of “tough approach”

Donald Trump says he loves the Russians and has always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin. Now the US President is threatening his Russian colleague with sanctions.

US President Donald Trump is threatening Russia with sanctions over the Ukraine war. On the online platform Truth Social, which he co-founded, Trump demanded of Russian President Vladimir Putin: “Stop this crazy war. It’s only getting worse.” If there isn’t a solution soon, he would have no choice “but to impose high taxes, tariffs and sanctions on everything that Russia sells to the United States and other participating states.” What exactly he meant by other participating states was not clear from the post.

“I’m not interested in hurting Russia,” Trump wrote. “I love the Russian people and have always had a good relationship with President Putin (…).” It’s time to “make a deal.” “We can do it the easy way or the hard way,” Trump continued.

The US President, who has been in office since Monday, had previously shown himself ready to talk to Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in order to bring an end to the war.

Since Russia’s war of aggression began almost three years ago, the USA, the EU and other states have imposed numerous punitive measures on Russia and Russian politicians, business people and military personnel. It initially remained unclear what additional sanctions Trump had in mind.

“Russia will not sacrifice one iota of its national interests and make concessions on these issues,” said Russian foreign policy expert Leonid Slutsky in an initial reaction. Putin has always emphasized his willingness to engage in dialogue. According to the Ria Novosti agency, Trump said nothing about a concrete way out of the Ukraine crisis, “just threw around threats,” criticized the head of the Russian Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee.

In Kiev, Mykhailo Podoljak, advisor in the presidential office, spoke of an “impressive formula to bring Russia to a more or less adequate position.” The question, however, is how quickly Trump will use his coercive measures.

Ukraine is fending off the Russian invasion with Western support – not least thanks to massive arms deliveries from the USA. So far it is at least unclear whether Trump will maintain the billion-dollar support for Ukraine decided by his predecessor Joe Biden.