Steven Richards
When President Donald Trump trades spikes with the Kremlin, both the administration and the Senate consider imposing strict sanctions against Russia Putin to force the country to the negotiating table and the end of the war in Ukraine.
Despite the reported in Trump’s second administration, the president has so far refused to demolish sanctions against Putin’s regime in the hope of facilitating negotiations in good faith. Administration options in generating incremental financial lever over Russia are somewhat constrained.
Although Trump repeatedly promised during the campaign to end the war in “24 hours”, pushing the president, poke and requests for negotiations were not released by Moscow. Trump was reluctant to impose strict sanctions to punish Russia, partly about the fears that they would continue to pull the country into the arms of China.
Putin did not fulfill previous obligations
The president’s patience towards Putin can wear skinny. In fact, Putin’s reluctance to engage in peace negotiations introduced to the market seem frustrating for the American president, causing that in recent days he is thrown as a Russian leader in several statements. On Tuesday, after the weekend of veiled warnings for Russia, President Trump warned that by continuing to attack Ukraine, Russian Putin “Game of Fire”.
“Vladimir Putin is not aware that if it wasn’t for me, many really bad things have already happened with Russia and I mean really bad. He is playing with fire!” Trump published on his social media platformSocial truth.
Said Fred Fleitz, former chief of staff of the first term of office of President Trump of the National Security Council, he said Only a message The conflict between Russia and Ukraine goes to a very “dangerous stage” when Putin escalates attacks, while rejecting the United States offers to facilitate negotiations.
“Putin opposed Trump. He did not respect him. He did not meet any obligations that Trump made in their telephone conversations,” said Fleitz John Solomon reports Podcast on Tuesday.
“He accelerated the war, and now it has become so bad that the German chancellor claims that the range limits will be removed from rocket attacks by Ukraine, which means that Ukraine can begin to shoot ballistical missiles in Moscow. I think Trump realizes how dangerous it is”, Fleitz.
Fleitz said that the latest messages of President Trump to Putin are an attempt to warn the Russian president against his readiness to impose sanctions focused on other streams of the regime’s income.
“It warns against Putin and I think Trump is prepared to apply quite rigid sanctions,” said Fleitz.
Aanctions escalation threat
The Trump administration still has several options for increasing the pressure on Moscow, despite further debate on the effectiveness of sanctions in general. They include more solid efforts to disturb or sanction the shadow fleet, which facilitates Russian unique crude oil sanctions, the occupation of Russian financial assets around the world and sanctions against the central bank of Russia – the strongest of the options.
Fleitz claims that fresh sanctions against Moscow will probably appear at two stages, booking the most harmful proposals for the second round, which gives Putina except that the worst influence on his economy.
“I believe that sanctions against the Russian Central Bank, as well as efforts to take over Russian financial assets around the world would be very, very difficult sanctions that can be considered,” said Fleitz. “I think it would be in the second phase because […] That is, it would lead to bread lines in Russia. It would be extremely destructive for the economy, which is already under fire. “
Administration at the beginning of this month Apparently he began to formulate New sanctions that would be addressed to both Russian banking and energy sectors. So far, Trump has avoided imposing them.
The US has already imposed sanctions on Moscow’s central bank, but there are several options to enhance these means, causing more pain for the Russian economy. The Democracy Defense Foundation, conservative destruction of foreign policy, assessed that these options may officially cover Designation of the central bank of Russia as an SDN (Specially designated domestic), which would threaten sanctions against all entities in external countries conducting interests with the Russian bank.
As part of the first phase, Fleitz said that the administration could decide to aim at the immense fleet of the shadow of tankers, which Moscow uses to draw Western oil sanctions.
“Putin uses the so-called” ghost fleet “ships that illegally transport Russian crude oil around the world, and we know which ships are and under which flags are registered, and I think that there will be a very significant effort to start intercepting, interventional at sea as part of these new sanctions,” said Fleitz.
Shadow fleet
Since the invasion of Ukraine at the beginning of 2022, Russia has expanded the so -called shadow fleet 1,400 vessels are estimatedenabling the Russians to export crude oil – in some cases directly to Europe – when avoiding the current sanctions.
From over a thousand ships in this fleet, only about 118 of them are sanctioned by a combination of Western countries. The fleet manages to circumvent sanctions, registering abroad – called the registration of the flag – taking into account ordinary inspections in accordance with maritime regulations and covering ownership through convoluted findings.
After the start of the Russian war, the number of tankers traversing the Baltic Sea dramatically increased. Between March 2020 and March 2022, just a month after the invasion, the number of travels from Russia Apparently it increased About over 662 to ports in India, Greece, China and Morocco – a transition from ordinary ports in European and American ports.
Several countries on the global south have become rallies for Russian registration of the shadow fleet. For example, the registration of ships in a compact African country Gabon doubled in the first half of 2023. Ninety -eight percent of these ships is “either subject to Russian sanctions of shipping, or has an unknown favorable owner of the group”, according to the owner of the group ” S&P Global analysis. This analysis also showed that in 2022 over 860 fresh companies with the “association or relationship with Russia” were created in the maritime industry, emphasizing the boom in the shadow fleet.
Western sanctions and price limits of Russian crude oil significantly deepened Moscow oil income, but exports through the shadow fleet allowed the country to avoid the worst effects, maintaining stocks to stock Long -time buyers like India AND Extending exports to China.
The Act on the Senate’s sanctions was proposed
There are also mighty sanctions on the table, which is managed by Senator Lindsey Graham, Rs.c., but gained common and double -sided support from the chamber. The bill would be aimed at isolating Russia as a “commercial island” by hitting huge tariffs on Russian trading partners, at least 500%for the import of Moscow energy products. The bill secured 82 consponsors in a strictly divided chamber. Dream. Graham also insists that he is in Lockstep with a white house at every stage of the bill.
“The consequences of his barbaric invasion must be realized for those who support it. If China or India stop buying cheap oil, Mr. Putin’s war machine would stop.” Graham wrote on the pages The Wall Street Journal.
“”Sanctioning of the Russian Act of 2025.“It would apply a 500% tariff to external countries that buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other products that can affect genial countries such as China and Iran, as well as members of the European Union who still import Russian oil using a shadow fleet.
If the country is not consistent, the regulations require an enhance in the tariff rate by another 500% every 90 days – a difficult punishment for third parties conducting business with Russia despite existing sanctions. These fresh tariffs would be particularly problematic for China. His economy is They already show signs of significant anxiety When he tries to repel the trading tariffs from Washington, and the nation is one of the key trading partners in Russia and has supported war efforts.
Legislators call on Trump to act
After Putin’s latest round on attacks on Ukraine and Trump, there is growing chorus Legislators calling on the president to impose further sanctions.
“I had Enuf [sic] Putin killing innocent PPL [sic]. Pres Trump takes actions at least sanctions, “Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Posted to X.
“It’s time for honesty. Peace talks have a zero influence on Putin. His goal is to dominate Ukraine and will not stop until he can win,” said Rep. Don Bacon, R-neb. Post to X. “The United States and allies must armament of Ukraine in their teeth, sanction Russia to the maximum and confiscate USD 300 billion in foreign Russian assets.”
President Trump, who until now has refrained from the clear criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin from the beginning of the second term at the beginning of this year, called on a continuous leader’s attack in Ukraine, lamenting as an obstacle in peace. This weekend he showed the first signs of coping with sanctions.
“I have always had very good relationships with Vladimir Putin from Russia, but something happened to him” Trump wrote in a pole to Truth Social on Sunday. “He went crazy!”
He said that Putin “kills many people unnecessarily, and I am not talking only about soldiers. Blinds and drones are shot in cities in Ukraine, for no reason.” . Kremlin hitwarning President Trump from what he considered “emotional reactions” to war.
Trump’s message contained a veiled warning. If Putin wants “all of Ukraine … it will lead to the fall of Russia!”
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Steven Richards is only a news reporter.
