Trump refuses to support sanctions on Russia, seeking business deals with Putin – NYT
US President Donald Trump has refused to join the European Union's sanctions pressure on Russia after a conversation with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Instead, he has expressed an intention to focus on economic cooperation with Moscow, which could lead to a rift within NATO – something Putin has been seeking to create for more than two decades.
Source: The New York Times
Details: According to the NYT, Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders that Russia and Ukraine should find a solution to the war on their own. This happened just days after he claimed that only he and Putin had the authority to make a deal.
According to six officials familiar with the discussion, Trump has also backed away from earlier threats to join European sanctions against Russia.
Quote: "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 Organisation, between the Americans and their traditional European allies, who say they are going ahead with sanctions anyway."
Details: For many, this shift was expected. First came a highly charged meeting with Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, followed by the resignation of the US 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 harm business interests, whereas Trump "wants to maximise economic opportunities for Americans".
Quote: "Several 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 if it refused to join Ukraine in declaring a 30-day, unconditional cease-fire. 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."
Details: Trump, who during the election campaign insisted he could establish peace between Russia and Ukraine within 24 hours, later acknowledged that it was much more difficult than he had expected. Frustrated by the slow progress and Putin's intransigence, he began to talk about the possibility of the US withdrawing from the talks. Trump made it clear in his social media post on Monday that he wished to distance himself from peace talks and move towards making business deals with Russia.
"The conditions for that [ending 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," he wrote.
He then hinted that his real goal is the normalisation of 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 currently unclear what exactly the normalisation of relations would look like, but Trump seeks to open access for American companies to the Russian energy sector and rare-earth metals market.
Quote: "Mr. Putin seems to understand Mr. Trump’s eagerness for commerce, and has steered much of their conversations toward the potential economic relationship, according to people briefed on their phone calls on Monday and earlier this year. 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."
Details: A senior European official involved in the talks noted that Trump had never intended to join sanctions against Russia if Putin refused a ceasefire. His threats were, according to the official, largely performative.
Background: On 19 May, Trump held a two-hour conversation with Putin, after which he stated that he would not ramp up sanctions against Russia because "there's a chance of progress", though he did not rule out the possibility of imposing sanctions in the future.
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