‘Unfriendly act’: Putin responds to Trump’s sanctions on Russia’s biggest oil companies, says ‘serious but…’
Trump had delayed imposing new sanctions on Russia for several months. However, his patience ran out after plans for a new summit with Putin in Budapest fell through.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that the new US sanctions against two of Russia’s biggest oil companies were “serious,” but not strong enough to cause major harm to the country’s economy. The United States had announced sanctions on Wednesday against Rosneft and Lukoil, Russia’s top oil producers, marking the first sanctions imposed since President Doland Trump returned to office.
“These sanctions are serious for us, that’s clear,” Putin told reporters. “They will have some consequences, but they won’t greatly affect our economic stability.” He also described the move as an “unfriendly act” that, he said, would not help improve Russia-US relations, which had only recently started to recover.
At the beginning of his term, Trump tried to build friendly relations with Russia, but he grew frustrated as Putin refused to agree to a ceasefire. The US president reportedly complained that his peace talks with Putin were “going nowhere.”
Trump, a Republican, had delayed imposing new sanctions on Russia for several months. However, his patience ran out after plans for a new summit with Putin in Budapest fell through. Despite the fresh sanctions and the cancelled summit, Putin seemed willing to keep communication open.
“Dialogue is always better than confrontation or conflict, and certainly better than war. We have always supported continuing talks,” Putin told reporters.
Trump, speaking shortly after the announcement, said he hoped the sanctions would push Putin to the negotiating table.
“Hopefully he’ll become reasonable;” Trump said. “And hopefully Zelenskyy will be reasonable, too. You know, it takes two to tango, as they say.” The sanctions were unveiled as NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte met Trump in Washington. Rutte said the decision was “exactly the type of action we needed,” crediting US-made air defence systems with helping Ukraine repel recent Russian attacks.
Meanwhile, the EU confirmed it had agreed its 19th sanctions package against Russia, targeting its shadow fleet and banning imports of liquefied natural gas.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy again pressed home Ukraine’s needs as he met with 27 other European leaders for the European Council summit in Brussels.
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