Donald Trump has warned he will impose high tariffs and further sanctions on Russia if Vladimir Putin fails to end the war in Ukraine.
Writing on his social media platform Truth Social, he said that by pushing to settle the war he was doing Russia and its President a “very big favour”.
Trump had previously said he would negotiate a settlement to Russia’s full-scale invasion launched in February 2022, in a single day.
Responding to the threat of harsher sanctions, the Kremlin said it remains “ready for an equal dialogue, a mutually respectful dialogue”.
“We’re waiting for signals that are yet to arrive,” said President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov.
He added that Russia sees nothing new in Donald Trump’s threats to impose sanctions.
“He likes these methods, at least he liked them during his first presidency.”
Putin has said repeatedly that he is prepared to negotiate an end to the war, which first began in 2014, but that Ukraine would have to accept the reality of Russian territorial gains, which are currently about 20% of its land. He also refuses to accept Ukraine joining Nato, the military alliance of Western countries.
Kyiv does not want to give up its territory, although President Volodymyr Zelensky has conceded he may have to cede some currently occupied land temporarily.
On Tuesday, Trump told a news conference he would be talking to Putin “very soon” and it “sounds likely” that he would apply more sanctions if the Russian leader did not come to the table.
But in his Truth Social post the next day, he went further: “I’m going to do Russia, whose Economy is failing, and President Putin, a very big FAVOR,” he wrote.
“Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War! IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE. If we don’t make a ‘deal’, and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries.”
Continuing, he wrote: “Let’s get this war, which never would have started if I were President, over with! We can do it the easy way, or the hard way – and the easy way is always better. It’s time to ‘MAKE A DEAL’.”
Trump’s former special representative for Ukraine, Kurt Volker, said Trump’s threat of more serious sanctions on Russia “gives a signal to Vladimir Putin this is going to get worse, not better”. Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he added: “We should incentivise Putin to say, ‘OK, it’s time actually to have a ceasefire.'”
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the World Economic Forum on Tuesday that at least 200,000 peacekeepers would be needed under any agreement.
And he told Bloomberg that any peacekeeping force for his country would have to include US troops to pose a realistic deterrent to Russia.
BBC
