Latest news with #US-Russia
Mint
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Mint
Putin compliments Trump for progress in US-Russia relations, US President says 'nice'
Russian President Vladimir Putin lauded US President Donald Trump for progress in US-Russia relations. Emphasising that the relations between Russia and the United States were beginning to improve and stabilise, Putin credited Donald Trump for this progress. The 72-year-old Russian President praised Donald Trump for his efforts to end the war in Ukraine and improve ties with Russia and called him a 'very courageous person" who 'survived two assassination attempts." While addressing a press conference in Minsk, Vladimir Putin expressed gratitude and said, "In general, thanks to President Trump, relations between Russia and the United States are beginning to level out in some ways," Reuters reported. Reiterating that he had "great respect" for the US President and declaring his willingness to meet Trump, Putin said that the meeting was "quite possible" but would require careful preparation. Vladimir Putin added, "Not everything has been decided in the sphere of diplomatic relations, but the first steps have been taken and we are moving forward." This follows Putin's interest in fresh round of direct peace talks in Istanbul on Russia and Ukraine conflict. During the upcoming meeting, the terms of a potential ceasefire are expected to be on the agenda, Putin said while speaking to reporters during a visit to Belarus. 'Putin made some very nice statements today,' Reuters quoted Donald Trump as saying. After Vladimir Putin lauded the 47th United States President, Trump said, 'Putin respects our country." He further noted that leaders of other US adversaries respect the US, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, AP reported.
Time of India
17 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Vladimir Putin backs Donald Trump's efforts to end Ukraine war, says he's ‘survived two assassination attempts' & is open to talks
Russian President Vladimir Putin has praised US President Donald Trump, calling him a "very courageous person" and acknowledging Trump's survival of two assassination attempts. Putin made the remarks while reflecting on Trump's approach to foreign policy, including efforts to end the Ukraine conflict. He also said he remains open to meeting Trump in the future, suggesting the potential for a stronger US-Russia relationship. The Russian leader described Trump as someone who has "travelled a very long and difficult path" and stressed that he respected Trump's persistence and intentions. Trump's role in the Ukraine war Putin highlighted Trump's stance on Ukraine, noting that the former US president appeared committed to ending the ongoing war. 'As for what he is doing within the country, or when it comes to the Middle East or his efforts to achieve peace in the Ukraine crisis — we value that a lot,' Putin said. He also referenced Trump's own admission that the Ukraine war was more complex than expected. Putin commented, 'It's true and it's expected. One thing is to look at something from the outside — it's another to be involved. Real life is always difficult.' Meeting possibility remains on the table Putin said Trump had proposed the idea of a bilateral meeting more than once. While no formal plans were announced, Putin expressed openness to the idea and said that such a meeting could potentially elevate ties between the two nations. 'Thanks to Trump, US-Russia relations are moving forward,' he remarked. The Russian president indicated that the right setting could lead to 'a new level of partnership.' US President Donald Trump | Credit: X Trump acknowledges difficulty, calls Putin 'misguided' Putin's comments followed statements made by Trump at the NATO summit in The Hague. There, Trump described Putin as 'misguided' and admitted that his expectations for resolving the Ukraine war had been overly optimistic. 'I think it's a great time to end it [the war],' Trump said. 'I'm going to speak to Vladimir Putin, see if we can get it ended. I thought we would have had that settled easy.' When asked if Putin may have ambitions beyond Ukraine, Trump responded, 'It's possible,' reinforcing long-standing concerns in the US and NATO about Russia's regional ambitions. Putin's comments add a new dimension to the US-Russia dialogue, as both leaders acknowledge the challenges ahead but leave the door open for engagement.
Time of India
4 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
US readies another bunker-buster for India. What can happen?
A bipartisan bill in the US Senate, the Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025, threatens India with 500% tariffs for continuing to purchase Russian oil, aiming to cripple Russia's energy revenue. While the bill gains traction, the Trump administration resists, fearing it will undermine efforts to mend US-Russia relations and mediate an end to the Ukraine war. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads The rationale of the Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025 Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads What is Trump's stance on the economic bunker buster? Are 500% tariffs feasible? Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads India's unique position After dropping bunker-buster bombs on Iran's underground nuclear facility at Fordow, America is threatening to drop a bunker-buster on India -- an "economic bunker-buster", as one of the proponents of the bill has called it. India stares at astronomically high 500% tariffs if it continues to buy Russian oil as a bill for new sanctions on Russia gathers bipartisan support in the US. In April, Senators Lindsey Graham (Republican) and Richard Blumenthal (Democrat) introduced the Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025, a bipartisan legislative proposal that seeks to fundamentally alter the global response to Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine. The bill mandates punitive economic action not only against Russia but also against any country that continues to purchase its energy products. Chief among these measures is an unprecedented 500% tariff on all US imports from countries that buy Russian oil, gas, petrochemicals or bill's intent is to hit Russia where it hurts most, its energy revenue, and thereby force it to engage in genuine negotiations or risk economic isolation. Graham has labeled it an 'economic bunker-buster', a metaphor for the bill's aim to detonate the financial underpinnings of the Russian war machine by targeting its energy clients, primarily India and the perspective of its sponsors, the bill is necessary because traditional sanctions and diplomatic overtures have failed to bring the war in Ukraine to a meaningful halt. Russia continues to benefit from robust energy trade, and much of this commerce flows through two of the world's largest economies, China and India, who have shown little interest in joining Western targeting these energy buyers with enormous tariffs, Graham and Blumenthal hope to choke Russia's export profits and deter countries from enabling its war economy. The bill's enforcement mechanism is rigid and automatic: if Russia refuses to negotiate in good faith or violates any future peace agreement, the tariffs kick in immediately, leaving little room for diplomatic Graham had warned India and China that if the bill got through, they would have "nobody to blame but yourself". "To China and India: if you continue to prop up Putin's war machine, you'll have nobody to blame but yourself," he the bill's growing popularity on Capitol Hill, the Trump administration seems to be resisting it. Trump, who has made repairing US-Russia relations a central tenet of his second-term foreign policy, sees the bill as a direct obstacle to his strategic ambitions. According to The Wall Street Journal, the administration is quietly lobbying Senator Graham to weaken the bill, particularly by changing the mandatory language from 'shall' to 'may,' which would give Trump discretion over is also pushing for broad waiver authority that would allow exemptions for allies, essential goods and national security priorities. His core argument is that rigid, automatic sanctions undermine presidential flexibility and could derail his efforts to mediate an end to the Ukraine war through diplomacy rather than White House resistance, the bill has attracted overwhelming support in the Senate. "I've got 84 co-sponsors for a Russian sanctions bill that is an economic bunker-buster against China, India and Russia for their brutal invasion... Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine. I think that bill is going to pass. We're going to give the president a waiver. It will be a tool in his toolbox to bring Putin to the table," Graham told NBC News a few days ago."We are in conversations with the White House, obviously, about that subject and that issue … there's a high level of interest here in the Senate, on both sides of the aisle and moving on it, and it's very well could be something that we would take up in this work period," Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters early this month. "Obviously we're working with the White House to try and ensure that what we do and when we do it works well with the negotiations that they've got underway." The bill's success depends not only on its passage through both chambers of Congress but also on its ability to survive a potential presidential bill is likely to change significantly as it moves through Congress and in consultations with the Trump administration, Matt Zweig, senior policy director of FDD Action, a nonprofit advocacy organization affiliated with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, has told Politico. It may also take a long time. 'With sanctions legislation, you're also normally dealing with iterative processes where you would want to go through every nook and cranny,' Zweig supporters of the bill argue that harsh consequences are necessary to achieve peace in Ukraine, critics warn that rigid mandates could backfire, turning allies against the US, weakening multilateral opposition to Russia and harming the US itself. The most controversial feature of the bill, the imposition of 500% tariffs on all imports from countries that buy Russian energy, raises serious questions about feasibility and unintended consequences. While such a measure makes for a powerful political message, its implementation could trigger a cascade of economic Fishman, a senior researcher with the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, told Politico nearly two weeks ago that countries in the crosshairs of the bill would struggle to halt their imports of Russian energy overnight. Tariffs of 500 percent on imports of goods made in China would send prices soaring, disrupt supply chains and could drive up US unemployment to recessionary levels. Most likely, it would lead to a screeching halt in U.S. trade with China. 'It would hurt Americans quite a bit,' Fishman said. India and China buy roughly 70 percent of Russian energy exports, but several other countries that buy any oil, gas or uranium from Russia could also be exposed to tariffs under the bill. The US itself is still reliant on imports of enriched uranium from Russia to fuel its nuclear reactorsTrump himself has struggled with the fallout from aggressive tariffs. He imposed very steep tariffs on Chinese imports, only to backtrack within a month amid fears of consumer price spikes and market instability, leading to traders coining a phrase "TACO trade" in which TACO meant Trump Always Chickens Out. Applying such massive tariffs to economies as large and integrated as India and China could unleash retaliatory measures, inflation and even potential recessionary pressures. The result might be more damaging to the US than to the countries it seeks to coerce, weakening the sanctions' overall had to exempt several electronic goods, including iPhones, from his earlier tariffs on China, before scaling them back within a month because the tariffs would have significantly raised prices for American buyers. India too represents a particularly complex challenge. As a leading buyer of Russian crude, it falls squarely in the bill's crosshairs. Yet India is also the United States' largest supplier of generic pharmaceuticals, including many critical medications used daily in American hospitals and 500% tariffs on Indian imports would almost certainly lead to a big spike in US drug prices, possibly triggering shortages and pushing many treatments out of reach for lower-income patients. Such an outcome would be politically and economically untenable. Though the bill allows for a one-time 180-day national security waiver, experts argue this may not be enough to shield critical sectors like healthcare from its an India-US trade deal is in the works but facing hurdles. Indian officials are resisting the insistence of their American counterparts to allow lower-duty import of American agricultural products, fearing adverse impact on Indian farmers and health concerns related to genetically modified food, as per a recent TOI report.(With inputs from agencies)
The Sun
14-06-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
Zelensky urges US to 'shift tone' in dialogue with Russia
KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday urged the US to 'shift tone' in its dialogue with Russia as he warned that appeasing President Vladimir Putin would not help to end the war. 'Right now, the tone of the US-Russia dialogue feels too warm,' Zelensky wrote on X, formerly Twitter, adding, 'let's be honest: that won't stop Putin. What's needed is a shift in tone.'
Time of India
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
‘Peace And Trust Possible': Putin Aide Meets Trump, Pushes To Restore US Ties And End Restrictions
In a symbolic move toward thawing US-Russia tensions, new Russian Ambassador Alexander Darchiev met with President Donald Trump after presenting his credentials at the White House. The meeting followed Trump's recent phone call with President Putin, marking their fourth conversation since Trump returned to office. Darchiev emphasized the need to restore ties based on mutual trust, peace, and equality. He signaled Moscow's interest in resuming direct flights, boosting business, and ending restrictions on Russian diplomatic activity. The envoy also criticized the strained visa system and called current diplomatic limits "absurd." #USRussiaRelations #TrumpPutin #AlexanderDarchiev #DiplomaticReset #RussiaUS #geopolitics #peacetalks #TrumpDiplomacy #MoscowWashington #UkraineCrisis
