The White House has finished fresh sanctions against Russia aimed at kicking banks and energy companies to force President Vladimir Putin to support President Donald Trump's demand for a ceasefire in Ukraine, mediates ReutersTo.
Targets include Gazprom, a massive energy company owned by the state and several other major organizations related to natural resources and finance. The officials involved were no longer named.
Trump has not signed sanctions yet, but every piece is ready and waiting. One US official clearly said, “This is his call.” Another added that the National Security Council coordinates the introduction of “more punitive actions”.
Trump is disappointed with Putin after repeated attempts to get to his desk. Initially, Trump reflected Moscow points in the early stages of his private phone calls with Putin. Now he has run out of patience.
Trump pushes harder after Putin rejects peace talks
James Hewitt, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said Trump is still focused on a complete and comprehensive ceasefire. Hewitt refused to say anything about current discussions behind closed doors.
If Trump approves this new sanction package, it will follow the US-Ukrainian mineral transaction signed on Wednesday, which was supposed to be part of the peace framework. Trump pushed this contract hard to show that he takes a strong line, even if Putin ignores calls for negotiations.
Since 2022, the US and its allies have added sanctions over and over again. But the Kremlin always finds opportunities around them. Moscow is constantly making money, buys weapons and the war drags on. Therefore, this new set of penalties is aimed directly at Russia's lines of life.
Once as a Trump ambassador to NATO and during his first term, Ukraine also dealt with Ukrainian negotiations, Kurt Volker said: “Trump has bent upside down to give Putin every opportunity to say,” Okay, we have a ceasefire and war “and Putin postpones him.”
Volker added: “This is the next stage of expression of pressure on Russia. Putin is escalated.” In the meantime, Trump is now in the US and Ukraine, demanding an immediate and complete ceasefire, and Putin is now more outdoors. “
Witkoff will meet Putin again as Moscow continues to attack
After returning to the oval office in January, Trump has moved around to try to play the Kremlin ball. One of the biggest moves was the closure of the Ministry of Justice's working group, which pursued the sanctions and the Russian oligarch.
He has also made some public comments that support Russia, accusing the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for the war and calling him “dictator.” None of these gestures worked.
Steve Witkoff, Trump's Special Peace Members, has taken it. He has promoted a peace treaty that would give Moscow four areas of Ukraine.
Now he met Putin four times, including a visit just last week. But three days after, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov repeated Putin's maximum demand and more attacks followed. Rocket and drone kicks pushed again into Ukrainian cities, killing more civilians.
Back in March, Reuters They announced that US officials have a help plan on the table – it is necessary to pause when reaching the negotiating table for Russia. But this plan is currently dead. Trump's mood has changed. Last Saturday, he met with Zelenskiy in the Vatican city for what both sides called a “very productive” meeting.
A day later, Trump posted Truth Social that he “weighed strongly large -scale banking sanctions, sanctions and tariffs to Russia” and said they would remain in place until there was a complete ceasefire and a final agreement.
Volker also noted that Russia is still making serious money from the oil and gas sales of India and China. He said the US could go further using secondary sanctions – a tactic where the state punishes another country for the third business.
In that case, this would mean punishing countries who would continue to buy from Russia. Volker said it would be “very important” if Trump pulled it on.
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