The administration of US President Donald Trump has prepared additional sanctions that could be applied to key sectors of the Russian economy if Putin continues to delay ending Russia's war in Ukraine. This is reported by Reuters, writes UNN.
Details
American officials have informed their European counterparts that they support the EU's use of frozen Russian assets to purchase American weapons for Kyiv, and Washington has held preliminary internal discussions about using Russian assets located in the US to support Ukraine's military efforts.
While it is unclear whether Washington will actually take any of these steps in the near future, it shows that the administration has a well-developed set of tools to further raise the stakes after Trump first imposed sanctions on Russian oil companies since returning to office in January.
European allies, who are suffering from Trump's fluctuations between appeasement and anger towards Putin, hope that he will continue to pressure Moscow, and are also considering their own serious actions.
One senior American official told the publication that he would like European allies to take the next big step regarding Russia, which could be additional sanctions or tariffs. Another source familiar with the administration's internal dynamics said that Trump is likely to pause for a few weeks and assess Russia's reaction to the announcement of sanctions on October 22 against Rosneft and Lukoil.
In addition, some US lawmakers are renewing efforts to advance a long-stalled bipartisan sanctions bill. A person familiar with the administration's internal dynamics said that Trump is ready to support this package. However, the source warned that such support is unlikely this month.
Recall
The United States Department of the Treasury officially imposed sanctions against leading Russian oil companies Rosneft, Lukoil, and their subsidiaries. The US called on Moscow to "immediately" agree to end the war against Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin stated that the new US sanctions are serious but will not affect the Russian economy. He called them an attempt to pressure and an unfriendly act that does not strengthen Russian-American relations.
Donald Trump reacted to these words. He ironically noted that he was glad to hear about the dictator's "confidence" but said that he preferred to see how Russia would cope with them.
Also, UNN reported that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is working on how to circumvent US sanctions against Russian oil companies Lukoil and Rosneft.