Trump's team announces condition for meeting with Putin and explains new sanctions against Russia

Meeting of the US president Donald Trump and the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin will take place if it brings "tangible positive results," and the US leader imposed the new sanctions right now because he does not see sufficient interest and action by Russia to end the war against Ukraine. This was stated by White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt during the briefing.

"Listen, the president has always said that he will impose sanctions on Russia when he considers it appropriate and necessary. And yesterday was that day. I think the president has also long expressed his frustration with Vladimir Putin and, frankly, with both sides of this war. He's always said that in order to have a good peace deal, both sides have to be interested [in it]... and unfortunately, he feels that lately he hasn't seen enough interest and enough action from Russia to move forward with peace," the official said.

At the same time, Leavitt added that the possibility of a meeting between Trump and Putin is not completely ruled out: "I think the president and the entire administration are hopeful that one day that could happen again."

However, the spokeswoman added, the United States wants to be sure that the summit will bring "tangible positive results" and that "President [Trump's] time will be used to good effect."

"And the president does not want to waste his time," the official said.

She also denied that the call between the US secretary of state Mark Rubio and the head of Kremlin diplomacy Sergey Lavrov made the US president believe that Putin or the Russians do not want a peace deal.

"That was not the only reason. No, I think Secretary Rubio felt that it was a really productive call. But, again, the president wants to make sure that the meeting between him and president Putin is going to be useful to him," the spokeswoman said.

She also noted that Trump "wants to see action, not just talk."

• On October 22, the United States imposed sanctions against major Russian oil companies Rosneft and Lukoil and called on Moscow to immediately agree to a ceasefire.
• Trump also said that he decided to cancel the meeting with Putin in Budapest, because he did not feel that it would have achieved the "desired result." At the same time, he stated that such a summit would be held in the future.
• Meanwhile, the Russian dictator announced the alleged postponement of his meeting with the US president, traditionally denied the impact of sanctions on Russia and voiced new threats about long-range Tomahawk missiles.