US President Donald Trump has declared that he trusts that Russian leader Vladimir Putin will uphold his commitments in a potential ceasefire agreement in Ukraine. “I want to make sure he sees things through. I believe he will do what he told me and I think he will now fulfill his part of the agreement,” said Trump on Monday, March 31, at a press conference in the White House, reported DW.
At the same time, Trump warned that he is prepared to increase economic pressure on Russia if Putin does not fulfill his commitments. “I don’t want to impose secondary tariffs on his oil, but I think I would do that if I felt he wasn’t doing his job.”
The American leader also spoke about a deal regarding mineral resource extraction between the US and Ukraine, accusing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of trying to get out of the agreement. “If he does, he’ll have problems – big problems,” said Trump.
The US President also criticized Kyiv for conditioning the agreement with a potential NATO membership. “They’re now saying, ‘We’ll only move forward if we join NATO or something like that.’ But that was never discussed. Russia said a long time ago, even before Putin, that they will not accept Ukraine joining NATO.”
On Sunday, in an interview for NBC News, Trump threatened to impose secondary tariffs of 25-50% on the entire amount of Russian oil if Moscow does not contribute to ending the conflict in Ukraine. The tariffs could take effect within a month and would prohibit any company buying oil from Russia to do business in the US.
Although he declared himself “very upset” by Putin’s remarks about the legitimacy of Zelensky, Trump emphasized that he has “very good relationships” with the Kremlin leader and that “the anger will dissipate quickly if he does what he’s supposed to do.”
We remind that negotiations for peace in Ukraine and a possible ceasefire in the Black Sea began on March 23 in Riyadh, with a first round of talks between the US delegation and Ukrainian representatives. The next day, Monday, March 24, intense negotiations took place between the delegations from the US and Russia, which lasted throughout the day and ended around 22:00, Moldova time. On Tuesday, March 25, the Ukrainian delegation met again with American officials.
Initially, the Kremlin refused to disclose details about the talks with the US, but later stated that Russia conditions the implementation of the ceasefire on lifting several economic sanctions.”