“Stop this ridiculous war,” Trump tells Putin, threatening more sanctions“Stop this ridiculous war,” Trump tells Putin, threatening more sanctions

US President Donald Trump said on his social network that if there is no peace agreement soon, he will impose sanctions on Moscow and its allies.

(DW) US President Donald Trump threatened on Wednesday (22/01) to impose new sanctions and tariffs against Russia if his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, does not end the war in Ukraine.

“If we don’t reach a ‘deal’, and soon, I will have no choice but to apply high levels of taxes, tariffs and sanctions on everything sold by Russia to the United States and several other participating countries,” said the American head of government on his social network.

The publication begins in a friendly tone, with Trump stating that he doesn’t intend to “hurt” Russia, that he loves the Russian people and has always had a good relationship with Putin, also drawing on the memory that Russia helped the US in the Second World War.

“Having said that, I’m going to do Russia, whose economy is declining, and President Putin, a big FAVOR. Resolve it now and STOP this ridiculous war. IT’S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE,” he posted, in capital letters.

Trump also said that if he had been president at the time, the war that began on February 24, 2022 “would never have started”. “We can do this [end the war] the easy way or the hard way – and the easy way is always better.”

It was not clear what other penalties Trump would be considering, as the United States, the European Union and other countries have already imposed various sanctions on Russia and its politicians, businessmen and military personnel since Moscow began its large-scale invasion of Ukraine. Virtually all Russian products are already banned from being imported into the US – with the exception of a small amount of fertilizer, animal feed and machinery.

One hundred days to end the war

During his election campaign, Trump even said that he would end the war in Ukraine in one day. In his inauguration speech on Monday, he defined himself as a “peacemaker”. The White House’s special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said that the conflict could be resolved in 100 days.

There is a lot of skepticism about the viability of the new president’s plan, although Moscow signaled after Trump’s statement that the time may be right for negotiations.

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Wednesday that Moscow sees a “small window of opportunity” to negotiate agreements with Trump, although he did not speak specifically about the Ukrainian issue.

“We can’t say anything today about the degree of the new administration’s negotiating capacity, but still, compared to the hopelessness in all respects of the previous White House chief, there is a window of opportunity today, albeit a small one,” Ryabkov said in a speech at Moscow’s Institute of American and Canadian Studies.

Ukraine fears territorial losses

Ukraine, for its part, relies heavily on Western support to defend itself against the Russian invasion, mainly arms supplies from Washington – which it is unclear whether Trump will maintain.

Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski has reiterated that any peace agreement with the Russians must be accompanied by military supervision and has called for 200,000 European peacekeepers.

There are fears that a peace deal negotiated by Trump would entail considerable territorial losses for Ukraine.

Trump commented on Tuesday that he would “verify” whether or not the US will send more arms to Ukraine, in contrast to the previous administration of Joe Biden, who intensified the sending of arms and funds to Kiev, especially in the last months of his term.

sf/av (AP, AFP, ots)

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