US could hit Russia with more sanctions to end Ukraine war, but first wants Europe to raise pressure
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One senior US official said he would like to see European allies make the next big Russia move, which could be additional sanctions or tariffs.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump’s administration has prepared additional sanctions it could use to target key areas of Russia’s economy if President Vladimir Putin continues to delay ending Moscow’s war in Ukraine, according to a US official and another person familiar with the matter.
US officials have also told European counterparts that they support the EU using frozen Russian assets to buy US weapons for Kyiv, and Washington has held nascent internal conversations about leveraging Russian assets held in the US to support Ukraine’s war effort, two US officials said.
While it is not clear whether Washington will actually carry out any of those moves in the immediate term, it shows there is a well-developed toolkit within the administration to up the ante further after Mr Trump imposed sanctions on Russia
Mr Trump has positioned himself as a global peacemaker, but has admitted that trying to end Russia’s more-than-three-year war in neighbouring Ukraine has proven harder than he had anticipated.
His meeting with Russia’s leader in Alaska in August failed to make progress. Mr Trump told reporters in Doha on Oct 25 that he would not meet with Mr Putin again unless a peace deal appeared likely. “I’m not going to be wasting my time,” Mr Trump said.
European allies – buffeted by Mr Trump’s swings between accommodation and anger towards Mr Putin – hope he keeps upping the pressure on Moscow, and are also mulling over major actions of their own.
One senior US official told Reuters that he would like to see European allies make the next big Russia move, which could be additional sanctions or tariffs.
A separate source with knowledge of internal administration dynamics said Mr Trump was likely to hit pause for a few weeks and gauge Russia’s reaction to the Oct 22 sanctions announcement.
Those sanctions took aim at oil companies Lukoil and Rosneft. The moves spiked oil prices by more than US$2 (S$2.60) and sent major Chinese and Indian buyers of Russian crude looking for alternatives.
Mr Trump said on Oct 25 that when he meets President Xi Jinping on Oct 30, China’s purchases of Russian oil may be discussed. But China is cutting back “very substantially” on Russian oil and “India is cutting back completely,” Mr Trump told reporters.
Banking sector, oil infrastructure
Some of the additional sanctions the US has prepared are geared towards Russia’s banking sector and the infrastructure used to get oil to market, said a US official and another person familiar with the matter.
Last week, Ukrainian officials pitched new sanctions activity to the US, said one source with knowledge of those conversations.
Among the specific ideas put forward were measures to cut off all Russian banks from the dollar-based system with US counterparts, two sources said.
It is not clear, however, how seriously Ukraine’s specific requests are under consideration.
The US Senate is also making moves, with some lawmakers renewing a push to get a long-stalled bipartisan sanctions Bill over the line.
The person with knowledge of internal administration dynamics said Mr Trump is open to endorsing the package. The source warned, though, that such an endorsement is unlikely in October.
The Treasury Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Mr Kirill Dmitriev, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy for investment and economic cooperation, said on Oct 24 that he believes his country, the US and Ukraine are close to a diplomatic solution to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Ms Halyna Yusypiuk, Ukrainian Embassy spokeswoman in Washington, said the recent sanctions decision was appreciated, but did not otherwise comment.
“Dismantling Russia’s war machine is the most humane way to bring this war to an end,” Ms Yusypiuk wrote in an e-mail.
A week of whiplash
Mr Trump’s decision to hit Russia with sanctions capped a tumultuous week with respect to the administration’s Ukraine policy.
The US President spoke with Mr Putin last week and then announced that the pair planned to meet in Budapest
Mr Zelensky pushed back, and Mr Trump left the meeting with the position that the conflict should be frozen at its front lines.
Then last weekend, Russia sent a diplomatic note to Washington reiterating previous peace terms.
A few days later, Mr Trump told reporters the planned meeting with Mr Putin was off because “it just didn’t feel right to me”.
Speaking to CNN on Oct 24 after arriving in Washington for talks with US officials, Mr Dmitriev said a meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Putin had not been cancelled, as the US President described it, and that the two leaders will likely meet at a later date.
Two US officials argued privately that, in hindsight, Mr Trump’s abortive plan to meet with Mr Putin was likely the fruit of irrational exuberance.
After sealing a ceasefire in Gaza
Mr Trump ultimately decided to hit Russia with sanctions during an Oct 22 meeting with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a senior White House official said.
US pressure on Europe
Behind the scenes, Ukraine got an apparent US boost after the US approval process for providing targeting data for long-range Ukrainian strikes in Russia was moved to US European Command in Germany – viewed by US and European officials as more hawkish on Russia – from the Pentagon in Washington, according to a US and a European official.
However, Mr Trump has said he was still not ready to provide Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk missiles
The US is also putting pressure on Europe to further tighten the financial screws on Moscow. In announcing the US sanctions, Mr Bessent pushed the EU to follow.
Broadly speaking, US officials have criticised EU and Nato countries for not taking more decisive steps to stand up to Russia.
It will be more difficult, though, for the EU to unleash full-blocking sanctions on Lukoil than it is for the US, one senior EU official argued, given how heavily entangled Lukoil is with Europe’s economy.
The oil company owns refineries in Bulgaria and Romania and has a robust retail petrol station network throughout the continent.
“I think we need to find a way to disengage... before we can fully sanction,” the EU official said. REUTERS
