Published On 23 Oct 2025
After the sanctions were imposed on Russia’s two biggest oil companies by the United States, Russian President Vladimir Putin has pledged to resist pressure from the West.
In an effort to persuade Putin to end his country’s occupation of Ukraine, US President Donald Trump placed sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil on Wednesday. Trump’s sanctions posed a risk to foreign financial institutions that conduct business with these companies, a warning that might make it difficult for nations like India to continue to purchase oil from Moscow.
On Thursday, the European Union imposed a new round of severe sanctions on Russian energy exports as well as a ban on imports of liquefied natural gas.
The Russian president downplayed the effects of the sanctions, which Putin called “unfriendly act” on Thursday.
They take our concerns seriously, of course, and that is obvious. And while they will have some consequences, Putin asserted that they won’t have a significant impact on our economy. Naturally, this is an attempt to put pressure on Russia. However, no self-respecting nation or people ever make decisions when under pressure.
Trump’s new policy on the Ukraine war has recently received a surprising twist thanks to the sanctions he has announced. Trump has repeatedly shifted positions on the war, criticizing Putin for refusing to accept US support, to admonishing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Putin has demanded that Russia maintain any territory it had seized during the war and that Ukraine be completely disarmed. Trump has been unable to move between those two positions, which suggests that Ukraine cannot agree on them.
Plans for a Trump-Putin meeting in person broke down this week after Trump proposed ending the Russian-Ukraine war with a ceasefire along the current front lines.
Trump said on Wednesday that he had called off the meeting with Putin because of Putin’s position on Ukraine, but the White House has since stated that a meeting between the two presidents was still possible.
According to White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt, “I think the president and the entire administration hope that one day that can happen again.”
Trump has also suggested that Ukraine could receive Tomahawk missiles, which would allow it to launch longer-range missiles at Russian locations. Last week, Selenskyy met with the White House with the intention of reaching a deal on the weapons, but he left without a deal.
Putin referred to any plans to provide long-range missiles to Ukraine as an “escalation attempt” on Thursday.
Source: Aljazeera
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