Trump allies urge him to finally back sanctions on Russia – Reuters

Some Republicans in Congress and White House advisers are urging US President Donald Trump to finally back new sanctions against Moscow, amid growing frustration with dictator Vladimir Putin's attacks on Ukraine, Reuters reported, citing anonymous sources among US officials.

For months, Trump has refrained from such sanctions, believing he could have fruitful talks with Putin to end the war and believing that sanctions are generally overused and often ineffective.

White House officials said Trump still hopes to develop an economic partnership with Russia: he views the sanctions as an escalation of tensions with Moscow that could destroy hopes for a ceasefire in the Russian-Ukrainian war.

But the US president's frustration with the Russian dictator is real and growing, advisers said. Trump is seriously considering imposing sanctions after Russia stepped up its attacks on Ukraine in recent days.

"He is always looking at different ways to apply pressure. This is no different. He's always weighing his options," said an unnamed senior White House official.

American officials have prepared economic sanctions against Russia, including measures on banks and energy – and according to them, the sanctions package is ready to be implemented on Trump's orders.

One option, supported by some of Trump's advisers, is for the president to support or at least not block a bill introduced by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and his Democratic colleague Richard Blumenthal, which would impose 500% tariffs on goods imported from countries that purchase Russian resources.

Some advisers believe the bill could be useful because it would allow for significant sanctions and would essentially allow Trump to tell Putin that the decision to impose restrictions was not his, one U.S. official said. In turn, it could help the U.S. president maintain an effective line of communication with the Russian dictator.

The same official and another person familiar with internal discussions said that the Trump White House believes that for sanctions to be effective, secondary restrictions are needed – that is, against countries that do business with Russia, not just against Moscow itself.

As Reuters notes, since the start of Trump's new term, Republicans have generally followed the president on foreign policy issues – and this makes their desire to impose sanctions noteworthy.

One American official said that White House officials had held talks with Senate Republicans on the content of the sanctions bill.

If the Senate bill passes, there is a corresponding bipartisan document in the House of Representatives, although support for Ukraine among Republicans in the lower chamber is noticeably weaker than in the upper chamber.

In meetings held in recent days in Washington, US officials said they had no reservations about the new sanctions, a source directly familiar with the matter said.

• On May 26, Trump said he was surprised by Russia's attacks and that Putin had "gotten completely crazy."
• On May 28, the US president said that he did not yet know whether the Russian dictator wanted to end the war against Ukraine, but that he would find out soon.
• Trump has repeatedly threatened Russia with new restrictions, but this has not yet led to any real action. At the same time, the US president has extended the restrictions imposed by Obama and Biden.