“I think he’d like to see it over with,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One.
When asked if he was concerned that the sanctions Washington had imposed on Russia on Thursday could turn out to be too “biting,” Trump stated: “He’s [Putin] saying, well, they won’t have that much of an effect. So I don’t know. <…> I don’t think he’s right about that, but we’ll see.”
On Wednesday, the US Department of the Treasury blacklisted Russia’s Rosneft and Lukoil oil giants, together with their 34 subsidiaries. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Washington expected the restrictions to put significant pressure on Moscow with regard to the conflict in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out that new US sanctions would not have a considerable impact on the country’s economic situation but would damage bilateral relations.
