On Wednesday, Washington imposed sanctions against «Lukoil» and «Rosneft», causing the main buyers of Russian oil — China and India — to sharply reduce imports from Russia.
According to The Wall Street Journal, citing American officials, US sanctions packages against Russia's oil industry were developed and ready for implementation for several months, in case Trump decided to act. Donald Trump was presented with three options for sanctions: a tough option aimed directly at Russian industry and the top leadership of Russia; a middle option aimed at Russia's energy industry; and a soft option involving more limited sanctions. The US President chose the soft option.
The latest dissatisfaction of the US President resulted in real actions. Trump believes that the Gaza ceasefire he organized created momentum for ending the war in Ukraine, but Putin continues to be stubborn, which does not bring a peace agreement closer, administration representatives said.
Trump has other tools he can use to increase pressure on Putin, but he has not yet used them. These include supplying Ukraine with long-range «Tomahawk» cruise missiles, imposing new secondary sanctions on any companies doing business with Russian oil giants already under sanctions, or imposing new sanctions on the extensive «shadow fleet» of illegal Russian oil tankers to strengthen European Union sanctions.
«Trump leaves some things off the table because he still really wants to make a deal with Putin,» said Kurt Volker, who was Trump's envoy to Ukraine during his first presidential term. «This shows that he is simply frustrated that Putin has not yet agreed to his terms.»
Photo: Bloomberg News