Trump will not impose sanctions against Russia because he wants business deals with Putin. He is distancing himself from negotiations, - NYT
US President Donald Trump has no plans to impose sanctions on Russia, as he is seeking to conclude a number of commercial deals with Russia. He also intends to distance himself from the negotiation process.
This is reported by The New York Times, Censor.NET informs with reference to UP.
According to the newspaper, Trump said in a conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders that Russia and Ukraine should find a solution to the war on their own. This happened just a few days after he claimed that only he and Putin had the authority to conclude a deal.
According to six officials familiar with the discussions, Trump also backed away from earlier threats to join European sanctions against Russia.
"Their account sheds light on Mr. Trump’s decision to throw up his hands when it comes to a peace process that he had previously promised to resolve in just 24 hours. And, unless he again reverses course, Monday’s developments left Mr. Putin with exactly what he wanted: not only an end to American pressure, but the creation of a deep fissure inside the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, between the Americans and their traditional European allies, who say they are going ahead with sanctions anyway."
For many, this change was expected. First, there was the emotional meeting with Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, and then the resignation of the American ambassador to Kyiv.
"The policy since the beginning of the Trump administration has been to put pressure on the victim, Ukraine, rather than the aggressor, Russia," wrote former US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink.
A White House official told the NYT that new sanctions against Russia could hurt business interests, while Trump "wants to maximize economic opportunities for Americans".
"European officials said the message they took from the call was that they should not expect the United States to join them any time soon in piling additional financial pressure onto Mr. Putin. For Mr. Trump, that is a reversal. In social media posts in recent months he episodically threatened tariffs and sanctions against Russia. But after Mr. Trump’s call with Mr. Putin on Monday, those commitments evaporated. The American president declined, both in public and in his call with the European leaders, to follow up on that threat."
Trump, who claimed during the election campaign that he could establish peace between Russia and Ukraine in 24 hours, later admitted that it was much more difficult than he thought. Frustrated by the slow progress and Putin's intransigence, he has talked about the possibility of the US withdrawing from the negotiations. In a post on Monday, Trump made it clear that he wanted to distance himself from the peace talks and move on to making business deals with Russia.
The conditions to end the war will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of," Trump wrote.
"The terms of the end of the war should be negotiated between the two sides, as they should be, because only they know the details," Trump wrote.
He went on to hint at his real goal, which is to normalise relations between Washington and Moscow.
"There is a tremendous opportunity for Russia to create massive amounts of jobs and wealth. Its potential is unlimited," Trump added.
It is unclear exactly what the normalisation of relations will look like, but Trump is keen to give US companies access to the Russian energy sector and the rare earths market.
"Mr. Putin seems to understand Mr. Trump’s eagerness for commerce, and has steered much of their conversations toward the potential economic relationship. As a result, Europe is now moving toward new sanctions and the United States appears poised to move in the opposite direction, looking to get past Ukraine and nurture a larger relationship with Russia.
It’s exactly the kind of split inside NATO that Mr. Putin has been looking to create, and exploit, for two decades," the newspaper notes.
A European official who participated in the talks said Trump never intended to join sanctions against Russia if Putin refused to abandon the ceasefire. His threats were, according to the official, largely staged.
