WSJ: Trump may impose sanctions against Russia this week
US President Donald Trump is considering imposing sanctions against Russia as early as this week, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with Trump's thinking.
The US president may impose restrictions as he grows increasingly frustrated with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin's continued attacks on Ukraine and the slow pace of peace talks.
The restrictions are unlikely to include new banking sanctions, one of the people said, but other options are being discussed to pressure Putin to make concessions at the negotiating table, including a 30-day ceasefire. Trump could also decide not to impose new sanctions, the journalists wrote.
The sources say Trump is "tired" of the peace talks and is considering abandoning them altogether if the "final push" doesn't work. It's unclear what would happen if the U.S. backed out of the peace process, and whether Trump would continue to provide military support to Ukraine.
Three key factors may have influenced Trump's thinking, officials said. The first was his dislike of President Volodymyr Zelensky , who Trump believed was encouraging further conflict by pushing for sanctions even though the Ukrainian leader had agreed to a ceasefire.
Trump also believed that additional sanctions against Russia would not limit its ability to wage war, but would hinder efforts to restore economic ties between the United States and Russia.
And the third factor – Trump felt that he knew Putin and that the dictator would end the war as a personal favor.
"However, the Kremlin leader's reluctance to yield has soured the US president's opinion of his colleague, especially after a phone call last week, during which Putin refused to sign a ceasefire agreement," the journalists note.
- On April 26, Trump threatened the Russian dictator with new banking and secondary sanctions after Russia's latest strikes on Ukraine. The US president began to suspect that Putin did not want to end the war and was deceiving him .
- On April 27, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the United States is not imposing new sanctions against Russia because it "does not want to go to that extent" and "it is not the time" for them.
- On May 19, Trump told European leaders that Putin was not ready to end the war against Ukraine because he believed he was winning.
- On May 26, Trump responded to the massive Russian drone and missile attack on the night of May 25 by saying that dictator Putin had "gone completely crazy." At the same time, the US president once again criticized President Zelensky, saying that he was "not doing his country any favors" and was allegedly complicating the situation with his rhetoric about the aggressor state.