Russia does not care about Trump’s ‘theatrical ultimatum’, says ex-president Medvedev

MOSCOW – Russia does not care about US President Donald Trump’s “theatrical ultimatum” about slapping sanctions on buyers of Russian exports unless Moscow agrees to a peace deal in Ukraine, a senior security official said on July 15.

Mr Trump, sitting beside Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte in the Oval Office, on July 14, announced new weapons for Ukraine and threatened secondary tariffs of 100 per cent on the buyers of Russian exports, of which crude makes up a major chunk.

He also

expressed frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin

, saying he did not want to call him “an assassin, but he’s a tough guy”, in an apparent reference to former US president Joe Biden calling Mr Putin “a killer” in a 2021 interview.

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said in a post in English on X: “Trump issued a theatrical ultimatum to the Kremlin. The world shuddered, expecting the consequences. Belligerent Europe was disappointed. Russia didn’t care.”

The Kremlin has so far not commented on Mr Trump’s remarks, but said on July 14 it was clear that the United States continues to supply weapons and ammunition to Ukraine.

In Moscow, state television broadcasts led with advances by Russian troops in Ukraine, of which Russian forces control just under a fifth, and an attack on Russia by Ukrainian drones that injured 18 people.

State television reports on Mr Trump’s remarks focused on the time it would take for Patriot missile systems to arrive in Ukraine and domestic US concerns that the conflict could escalate, then turned to a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Kommersant, one of Russia’s most respected newspapers, invoked William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar play on its front page headline to suggest betrayal: “Et tu, Trump – the main peacekeeper of Ukrainian conflict joined the ‘party of war’”.

Mr Trump told the BBC he was “not done” with Mr Putin and that he thought a Ukraine peace deal was on the cards.

War, oil and peace

Mr Putin has repeatedly said he is ready to make peace – but on his terms – and that there is no point even considering a ceasefire until the details of what peace would look like are nailed down.

European powers and Ukrainian officials say they do not believe Mr Putin is serious about peace and have implored Mr Trump to abandon his efforts to repair relations with the Kremlin.

In Washington, a White House official said Mr Trump’s intention is to impose

“100 per cent tariffs on Russia”

and secondary sanctions on other countries that buy oil from Russia if a peace deal is not struck in 50 days.

Eighty-five of the 100 US senators are co-sponsoring a Bill that would give Mr Trump the authority to impose 500 per cent tariffs on any country that helps Russia, but the chamber’s Republican leaders have been waiting for him to give them the go-ahead for a vote.

China, India and Turkey are the biggest buyers of crude from Russia, the world’s second-largest exporter of oil after Saudi Arabia. It is unclear how those countries would react if they faced secondary sanctions for their purchases of Russian oil.

Russia exports about five million barrels of oil per day. REUTERS