U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced new sanctions against the Russian Federation and called for an “immediate ceasefire” in its war against Ukraine.
The war in Ukraine has been raging for more than three years, but negotiations between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin appear to have come to an impasse on Wednesday.
‘Given President Putin’s refusal to end this senseless war, Treasury is sanctioning Russia’s two largest oil companies that fund the Kremlin’s war machine.’
Bessent posted a statement on social media about the sanctions.
“Now is the time to stop the killing and for an immediate ceasefire. Given President Putin’s refusal to end this senseless war, Treasury is sanctioning Russia’s two largest oil companies that fund the Kremlin’s war machine,” he wrote.
“Treasury is prepared to take further action if necessary to support President Trump’s effort to end yet another war,” he added. “We encourage our allies to join us in and adhere to these sanctions.”
Earlier in the day, Bessent told the Fox Business channel that the sanctions were a response to Putin’s dishonesty in the negotiations.
“President Putin has not come to the table in an honest and forthright manner, as we’d hoped,” Bessent said to host Larry Kudlow.
“There were talks in Alaska. President Trump walked away when he realized that things were not moving forward. There have been behind-the-scenes talk, but I believe that the president is disappointed at where we are in these talks,” he added.
“We are going to be announcing a substantial increase in Russia sanctions,” Bessent concluded. “I’m not gonna give you the exact sanctions, but I can tell you that this will be one of the largest sanctions that we have done against the Russian Federation.”
Also on Wednesday, the president denied a report in the Wall Street Journal claiming that the U.S. had agreed to lift a restriction on Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles against Russia.
“The Wall Street Journal story on the U.S.A.’s approval of Ukraine being allowed to use long range missiles deep into Russia is FAKE NEWS!” he wrote on social media. “The U.S. has nothing to do with those missiles, wherever they may come from, or what Ukraine does with them!”
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NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told Fox News that Russia’s economy was suffering and building pressure on Putin to come to the negotiation table on a peace deal.
First lady Melania Trump has been using her platform to secure concessions from Putin on returning Ukrainian children who were taken from the war front. Ukrainians have accused Russia of kidnapping children and trying to indoctrinate them to support Russia.
Some military experts believe Russia has lost between 165,000 and 235,000 service members since the invasion began in Feb. 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last reported casualties of 43,000 Ukrainian military deaths, but that may be an underestimate, according to a BBC report.
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