Putin and Witkoff’s talks: is the US ready for tough sanctions?

US President Donald Trump does not want to impose new sanctions against Russia and is trying to reach an agreement with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, as evidenced in particular by recent talks between special representative Steve Witkoff and Putin in the Kremlin, which lasted three hours and were called “constructive”.

This opinion was expressed on the air of “Pryamoy” by Andriy Reva, Minister of Social Policy (2016-2019).

“During these six months of Donald Trump’s tenure, we have already heard a lot of his statements regarding the Russian-Ukrainian war. And that in 24 hours I will stop this war with one phone call to Putin and Zelensky, I will do it even before the inauguration… There were many statements. And then Donald Trump practically made concessions to the Russian side on all issues,” Reva recalled.

At the same time, according to him, now that Trump has realized that Putin actually does not respect him and is making him “a laughing stock in the eyes of the whole world,” the situation may change somewhat.

“But we must understand that Trump’s strategic goal is to reach an agreement with the Russian Federation. He came not to quarrel with Russia over Ukraine, but to reach an agreement with Russia at the expense of Ukraine. And it is not his fault that he has not managed to do this so far. And all these measures of his, including this latest ultimatum, the 8th and all, are part of his strategy to reach an agreement with Putin,” the former high-ranking official noted.

“It is clear that he does not want to impose sanctions, he does not want to put pressure on Russia, he does not make it clear that Russia has learned to circumvent these sanctions. He faced the position of India, the position of China, the position of Brazil. If you put forward an ultimatum and set a deadline, then you do not send your representative to Russia – “maybe you will change your mind”. What signal did Putin give him? It is difficult to say what America said. Vitkoff did not give any explanations, and the Russian side said that everything is very constructive and everything is very good,” added former Minister Andriy Reva.

As a reminder, on August 6, US President’s special representative Steve Witkoff arrived in Russia, where he held talks with Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin. Russian propagandists write that the meeting was also attended by the dictator’s assistant Yuri Ushakov, who is known to be a member of the negotiating team between Russia and the United States.

It is noted that the conversation lasted almost three hours. Ushakov called the talks“useful and constructive” . According to him, Russia sent a signal to the Americans on the Ukrainian issue and received corresponding signals from the States. The Kremlin also says that Vitkoff and Putin talked about the prospects for possible strategic cooperation.

The presidents of the United States and Ukraine had a telephone conversation the day before. Ukraine supports the American position on an immediate ceasefire. Volodymyr Zelensky once again emphasized the importance of tougher sanctions against the Russians to force them to peace.

As is known, on July 28, US President Donald Trump announced a new deadline for Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine. He gave Putin 10-12 days to resolve the issue of Ukraine. In addition, Donald Trump said that he was no longer interested in meeting with the Kremlin dictator .

In response to Trump’s threats to impose sanctions on Russia within 10 days if it does not take real steps towards peace in Ukraine, the Kremlin responded that Russia has “been living under a huge number of sanctions for quite some time” and that the country’s economy “is operating under significant restrictions.” Later, it was reported that US President Donald Trump wants to agree to end Russia’s war against Ukraine by August 8 .

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