Will Trump go soft on Russia? Sanctions at risk, Ukrainian expert says
Photo: US President Donald Trump (Getty Images)
There are serious risks that US president Donald Trump will begin to gradually lift sanctions against Russia, Oleh Ustenko, an expert and former advisor to the President of Ukraine, told RBC-Ukraine.
If Washington and Moscow do start working on some kind of trade expansion, the issue of strengthening sanctions, especially economic sanctions, will lose its relevance, expert believes. In this case, there is a high probability that the existing sanctions will be lifted.
“There are serious risks that Trump will begin gradually lifting sanctions. Those that were not imposed by Congress and the Senate but were introduced by presidential executive orders,” Ustenko said.
He also believes that such a lifting of sanctions could be gradual.
“He will try to start with minor but symbolic ones. Then he’ll see what happens and decide whether to move forward with lifting more. So he’ll try to remove them step by step,” the former presidential adviser added.
US sanctions against Russia
Earlier, US president Donald Trump said that he would put sanctions against Russia if negotiations with Ukraine fail. In his opinion, the sanctions will be crushing for Russia.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio said that Washington had given Moscow time to make progress in peace talks, but that patience was running out, and a decision on sanctions was on the way.
After a phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on May 19, Trump said that he did not want to increase sanctions pressure on Russia because of its aggression against Ukraine. However, he did not rule out using such a mechanism in the future.
As Rubio explained, Trump believes that Russia may refuse to negotiate if new sanctions are imposed.
Meanwhile, the US Senate is ready to approve a bill on tough sanctions against Russia if Putin does not show a desire for peace within a few days.
Earlier, this bill was introduced to the Senate by Richard Blumenthal (Democrat) and Lindsey Graham (Republican).
Graham said that he had enough support in the House of Representatives to introduce the bill there as well. Trump will not be able to veto the bill, as 67 votes in the Senate are needed to override a veto, and the bill has 81 votes in favor.
The senator also said that Putin would eventually have to choose between meeting with Trump and ending the war or “bone-crushing” the Russian economy.
According to former presidential adviser Oleh Ustenko, if the US law is approved, Russia could lose about $150 billion, which is almost 40% of its military budget.
Read more about Trump's stance on anti-Russian sanctions in RBC-Ukraine's article.
