Trump planning ‘shock and awe' Russia sanctions
Senator Jim Risch, the chairman of the powerful Senate foreign relations committee, said Mr Trump would make good on his pledge to impose crippling economic penalties on Moscow's trading partners by Aug 8.
The US president this week shortened his deadline for hitting Russia with the most severe sanctions on its oil experts to date, giving Vladimir Putin 10 days to reach a deal to end the war in Ukraine.
'When and if secondary sanctions hit, it's going to be shock and awe,' Senator Risch told The Telegraph, adding that 'things are going to change dramatically' as a result.
The so-called secondary sanctions – which cut short the president's previous 50-day timeframe – were slated to slap 100 per cent tariffs on buyers of Russian oil, with the biggest customers being India and China.
However, Mr Trump appeared to water down his pledge on Wednesday, announcing that India would be hit with a 25 per cent tariff.
India has 'always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia, and are Russia's largest buyer of energy, along with China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to stop the killing in Ukraine – all things not good!' he wrote on Truth Social.
'India will therefore be paying a tariff on 25 per cent, plus a penalty for the above, starting on August first.'
The 25 per cent tariff is another drop after a Republican-backed bill initially proposed imposing 500 per cent tariffs against Russia and its allies, which was later revised to 100 per cent by Mr Trump.
Steve Witkoff, Mr Trump's special envoy, is expected to visit Russia in the coming days following a trip to food distribution sites in Gaza on Thursday.
'He's going to Russia, believe it or not,' Mr Trump told reporters ahead of the visit, before describing Moscow's recent strikes on Kyiv as 'disgusting'.
Mr Witkoff's last known trip to Russia was in April, when he met Putin for talks at the Kremlin that did not yield a breakthrough.
Mr Trump said he had seen internal data revealing the catastrophic losses faced by Russia in a statement on Truth Social.
'I have just been informed that almost 20,000 Russian soldiers died this month in the ridiculous War with Ukraine. Russia has lost 112,500 soldiers since the beginning of the year,' he said, describing the tally as a 'lot of unnecessary death'.
Ukraine, he added, had lost 8,000 soldiers since the start of the year, adding that there had also been civilian casualties as Russian rockets crashed into Kyiv and other parts of the country.
'This is a War that should have never happened — This is Biden's War, not 'Trump's'.' I'm just here to see if I can stop it!'
While Mr Trump confirmed he would proceed with fresh sanctions, he conceded they may have little effect on Putin's mindset. 'I am not sure it bothers him or if it has any effect, but we are going to do it,' he said.
Depending on the figure, imposing sweeping sanctions on Russian oil exports has the potential to disrupt global oil supplies given that Moscow ships 4.5 per cent of the world's crude oil, according to the International Energy Agency.
Mr Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday that he was not worried about potential chaos in the oil market, pledging to boost domestic production to offset any impact.
John Kelley, a Senior US diplomat, reiterated Mr Trump's message on tariffs to the United Nations National Security Council on Thursday, telling Russia and Ukraine: 'It is time to make a deal.' He added: 'The United States is prepared to implement additional measures to secure peace.'
Kyiv and Moscow have held three rounds of talks in Istanbul this year that yielded exchanges of prisoners and bodies, but no breakthrough to defuse the more than three-year conflict.
Addressing Putin's failure to heed American warnings on secondary sanctions, Senator Risch said: 'He's made a lot of mistakes, but this could be the biggest one yet.'
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