Russian economy meltdown as Putin warned of crippling new sanctions | World | News
The Russian economy is set to be dealt another blow as Donald Trump looks to impose new “painful” sanctions on the country that could severely hamper Moscow’s oil exports.
Despite a recent conversation with Vladimir Putin and calling for Russia to be allowed back in the G7, the new president is reportedly mulling over further economic restrictions.
Reitred General Keith Kellog, US special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, said Mr Trump is ready to ramp up sanctions to end the nearly three-year-long war in Ukraine.
He told the New York Post: “You could really increase the sanctions – especially the latest sanctions [targeting oil production and exports]. It’s opened the aperture way high to do something.
“And if there’s anybody who understands leverage, it’s President Donald J. Trump, and you can see that with what he’s recently done.”
The general said Mr Trump recently gathered his “whole confirmed team” of people working in national security to discuss how different elements of the US’ power could be used to end the war.
He said: “For Russia, this is kind of in their DNA in military operations – basically, you’re in an attrition fight. If you look at history, you’d never want to get into an attrition fight with the Russians, because that’s how they fight. They’re used to it.
“And so the pressure just can’t be military. You have to put economic pressure, you have to put diplomatic pressure, some type of military pressures and levers that you’re going to use underneath those to make sure [this goes] where we want it to go.”
This comes as the US and Russian presidents discussed bringing an end to the protracted conflict, with Mr Trump claiming they were both in agreement on “starting negotiations immediately”.
However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was quick to speak out against this, saying he would never accept a peace treaty drawn up without his involvement.
