US President Donald Trump has said his decision to suspend several sanctions against Russia is intended to keep Moscow engaged in negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said he was working to establish peace between Russia and Ukraine and did not want to take any action that could drive Russia away from the negotiating table.
Trump suspended several sanctions against Russia late on Friday, two days before they were due to take effect, amid growing tensions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Speaking to NBC News on Sunday, Zelensky warned that siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin would be a historic mistake.
Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev, meanwhile, described Trump’s decision as an important and genuinely historic moment. He argued that the sanctions, passed by the US Congress and signed into law by Trump in September, would have seriously harmed the US and global economies.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio characterised the suspension as a 60-day pause to assess the potential consequences of the measures for the American and global economies.
In his Truth Social post, Trump accused Zelensky of not wanting to end the war, adding that he could have secured a better deal two years earlier.
Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Zelensky has repeatedly called for an end to the fighting and maintained that Putin does not genuinely want peace.
Relations between Washington and Kyiv have come under renewed strain following a controversial US agreement to purchase Russian diesel. Last week, Trump announced the deal and said Zelensky was more difficult to deal with than Putin.
Despite international sanctions, Russia has continued exporting oil, with China and India accounting for major shares of its shipments, often at discounted prices.
According to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), China accounted for nearly half of Russia’s crude oil exports, while India received approximately 37 per cent.
During a European Union summit, Zelensky responded to Trump’s remarks by saying he was pleased to be among genuine leaders.
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