Trump hopes new oil sanctions will make Putin "reasonable"

US President Donald Trump has said he expects the new sanctions against Russian oil companies to have an impact and hopes they will make Russian leader Vladimir Putin become more "reasonable" and help bring an end to the war in Ukraine.

Source: Trump during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the White House

Details: Speaking about the new sanctions, Trump stressed that they are "very big" and target two of Russia's largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil.

Quote: "These are tremendous sanctions. These are very big. Those are against their two big oil companies, and we hope that they won't be on for long. We hope that the war will be settled… Last week, they had almost 8,000 soldiers killed. Many Russians were killed last week. Many Ukrainians were killed last week. We think it's ridiculous and would like to have it end."

Details: Trump added that he was not sure whether this move would bring Putin to the negotiating table but hoped the sanctions will have an effect.

Quote: "In fact, they're massive sanctions… Hopefully he [Putin] will become reasonable and hopefully Zelenskyy will be reasonable too. You know, it takes two to tango as they say, and we're gonna find out. They hate each other. These two people hate each other, you know that better than anybody. And it makes it more difficult than it should be."

Details: Trump also explained that the decision on sanctions had been a long time coming and was part of his broader strategy to end wars around the world.

Quote: "I just felt it was time. We waited a long time…We did seven different wars... All these wars I did and we have one left, it'll be nine. We have one left and I think we'll get that done too."

Details: Rutte supported the US action, saying that the new sanctions change the balance of power and put additional pressure on Moscow to make Putin agree to a ceasefire and begin negotiations.

Background: The United States imposed sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil, Russia's largest oil companies, and their subsidiaries.

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