‘Conversations with Putin are going nowhere’

Earlier, the US Treasury Department announced punishments against Russian oil companies to pressure the Russian government to accept a ceasefire. The companies Open Joint Stock Company Rosneft Oil Company and Lukoil OAO were targeted by sanctions. “The Treasury is sanctioning Russia’s two largest oil companies that finance the Kremlin’s war machine (…) and is prepared to take further action, if necessary, to support President Trump’s efforts,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

Republican stated, however, that he hopes that the restrictions against oil companies will not last long. To journalists, after the announcement of the sanctions, he said that he believes Putin wants to end the war, but that, for now, “it doesn’t seem right” to meet him. “Sanctions must have an impact on Russia. We hope they will make Putin more ‘reasonable’,” he added.

The sanctions against Russia are big, but I think Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to end the war. Talks with Putin are positive, but not progressing. donald trump

“The level of hatred” between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky “is substantial,” Trump said. According to the republican, both Russia and Ukraine want peace in the face of the conflict in Eastern Europe, but mutual hatred between the countries’ leaders makes negotiations difficult.

Secretary demanded that US allies join the sanctions. According to Bessent, all assets of people linked to oil companies and their subsidiaries that are in the United States or under the possession or control of US citizens are blocked and must be reported to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (read more here).

Meeting between Trump and Putin canceled

Sanctions come after Trump ruled out meeting with Putin initially scheduled for the next few days. “There are no plans for President Trump to meet with Putin in the immediate future,” a US government source told AFP yesterday, on condition of anonymity.