A new concession to the aggressor: The US is already sabotaging sanctions against Russia
21 March 2025 16:03
European officials say the Trump administration has reduced its involvement in efforts to enforce sanctions against Russia. This is reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to Bloomberg.
According to the unnamed officials, the United States is mostly absent from meetings of several working groups set up by allies to combat the circumvention of sanctions imposed on the Kremlin. The U.S. has been largely inactive in a group focused on stopping Russia from obtaining weapons parts and equipment. Also notable is the absence of the United States in the group that monitors compliance with the G7 price cap on Russian oil.
It is unclear to European officials whether the US has deliberately reduced its participation or simply lacks key personnel. Some meetings have been attended by junior officials with limited decision-making authority.
Sanctions against Russia are becoming a source of tension between Washington and Ukraine’s European allies as US President Donald Trump seeks to end the Russia-Ukraine war. Putin has demanded the lifting of trade restrictions as a condition for a truce, and the Europeans have made clear that they are not ready to accept this.
Although Trump has said he is ready to increase sanctions if Moscow does not seriously engage in peace talks, European officials see no signs of preparations for such action. The US has already withdrawn in February from the KleptoCapture working group, which was created by the Biden administration with broad powers to implement measures against Russia.
The US has indicated that the sanctions will remain in place as long as the war continues, and it is not seeking any easing of any measures at this time, but some sanctions relief is likely to be part of any deal.
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Negotiations between the US and Russia
on February 18, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Assistant Prime Minister Yuri Ushakov met in Saudi Arabia with an American delegation, represented by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Volz and Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff.
After the talks, the US State Department reported that the delegations agreed to “eliminate irritants” in bilateral relations and continue to work on preparing talks on Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The two sides also agreed to appoint high-level groups for further talks on Ukraine.
Jackie Heinrich, a Fox News correspondent at the White House, reported that the United States and Russia discussed a three-stage peace plan for Ukraine, which consists of the following stages
- A ceasefire.
- Holding elections in Ukraine.
- Conclusion of a peace agreement.
on February 27, negotiations between the Americans and Russians continued in Istanbul. According to the Russian side, they discussed the normalization of diplomatic relations. The Kremlin also allegedly demanded the return of 6 properties that had been seized from Russians in the United States in 2016-2018, and also proposed to resume air travel.
on March 13, Putin met in Moscow with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff. The parties have not yet made any statements about the results of this meeting, except for the words of Trump’s national security adviser Mike Volz that there are grounds for cautious optimism.
Trump’s proposals to Putin
According to inaccurate information from former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul(he used the word “allegedly”), Trump offered Putin (McFaul’s wording is retained)
- ukrainian territory;
- ukraine’s non-membership in NATO;
- no American soldiers in Ukraine;
- withdrawal of American soldiers from Europe, including from frontline countries;
- easing of sanctions.
Putin, according to McFaul, has not offered anything yet.
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