Telegraph: Kellogg, Republicans push Trump to take tougher stance on Russia

A number of US officials have urged US President Donald Trump to take a tougher stance against Russia. This was reported by the newspaper The Telegraph with reference to three unnamed interlocutors in Congress.

They said that behind the scenes, Republican hawks have been working for months to persuade Trump to take a tougher stance against Moscow.

Central to these efforts was the US Special Representative for Ukraine Keith Kellogg, who was apparently excluded from the talks in favor of a special US envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, a real estate billionaire with no previous diplomatic experience.

Although Kellogg continued to serve as a mediator with Ukraine, in February he was removed from direct talks between Washington and Moscow.

The situation has begun to change in recent weeks, with much of the public attention in support of Ukraine focused on Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who visited Kyiv in May and proposed a bill to sanction Russia.

But as the talks fail and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin builds up his military machine by stepping up strikes on Ukraine, Kellogg's fine work has prompted Trump to take a tougher line against Moscow, journalists said.

Kellogg "has been on a roll lately," a congressional aide told The Telegraph. He added that the general and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio "are pushing a new approach".

The diplomatic source added that Kellogg "has taken on a bigger role in the last few weeks," while Vitkoff has been mired in nuclear talks with Iran.

• On July 14, Trump gave Russia 50 days to conclude a peace deal, otherwise he threatened to impose secondary duties on countries that buy resources from the aggressor state.
• On the same day, he announced an agreement with NATO to supply Ukraine with weapons at the expense of European allies.