Donald Trump could not have chosen a more opportune time to announce his new deadline for Russia to agree to a ceasefire to end its so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Having previously given Vladimir Putin 50-days to end hostilities, Trump used his visit to his Turnberry Golf Club this week to announce that he was going to reduce it to “about 10 or 12 days” because of his frustration with the Russian leader’s attitude.
Three times Trump thought he had persuaded Putin to accept the terms of a US-brokered ceasefire. And three times Putin has ended his phone call with the American leader by “launching rockets into some city like Kyiv”, prompting Trump to complain “that’s not the way to do it”.
Trump’s belated realisation that Putin had simply been “tapping me along” to buy more time for Russia’s war effort, and has no genuine interest in ending the conflict, means that Moscow now has less than two weeks to change tack or face the consequences.
Plans are being drawn up to impose punitive sanctions against countries that continue to trade with Moscow, especially in the energy sector. A bipartisan group of US senators has been pushing for secondary sanctions of 500 per cent against countries that import Russian oil, gas, uranium and other products. China and India would be the most likely targets. Trump himself has talked about a more modest tariff of 100 per cent.
Nor is there any doubt that Trump means business, given the slew of highly-favourable – for the US, at least – trade deals the White House has recently negotiated with some of the world’s major economic powers, including Japan and the European Union. If Trump can use the threat of sanctions to brow beat Tokyo and Brussels, who’s to say if won’t work with Moscow?
The prospect of facing secondary sanctions from the US is certainly not a threat Putin can ignore lightly, as his ability to sustain Russia’s war effort relies heavily on the income Moscow derives from its energy trade.
Take that away, and another pillar of Putin’s master plan to restore Russia’s imperial reach collapses.
Donald Trump could not have chosen a more opportune time to announce his new deadline for Russia to agree to a ceasefire to end its so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Having previously given Vladimir Putin 50-days to end hostilities, Trump used his visit to his Turnberry Golf Club this week to announce that he was going to reduce it to “about 10 or 12 days” because of his frustration with the Russian leader’s attitude.
Three times Trump thought he had persuaded Putin to accept the terms of a US-brokered ceasefire. And three times Putin has ended his phone call with the American leader by “launching rockets into some city like Kyiv”, prompting Trump to complain “that’s not the way to do it”.
Trump’s belated realisation that Putin had simply been “tapping me along” to buy more time for Russia’s war effort, and has no genuine interest in ending the conflict, means that Moscow now has less than two weeks to change tack or face the consequences.
Plans are being drawn up to impose punitive sanctions against countries that continue to trade with Moscow, especially in the energy sector. A bipartisan group of US senators has been pushing for secondary sanctions of 500 per cent against countries that import Russian oil, gas, uranium and other products. China and India would be the most likely targets. Trump himself has talked about a more modest tariff of 100 per cent.
Nor is there any doubt that Trump means business, given the slew of highly-favourable – for the US, at least – trade deals the White House has recently negotiated with some of the world’s major economic powers, including Japan and the European Union. If Trump can use the threat of sanctions to brow beat Tokyo and Brussels, who’s to say if won’t work with Moscow?
The prospect of facing secondary sanctions from the US is certainly not a threat Putin can ignore lightly, as his ability to sustain Russia’s war effort relies heavily on the income Moscow derives from its energy trade.
Take that away, and another pillar of Putin’s master plan to restore Russia’s imperial reach collapses.