Trump sets a condition for NATO to impose sanctions on Russia
13 September 18:15
US President Donald Trump has expressed his readiness to impose “serious sanctions” on Russia, but has set a condition for all NATO member states to do so. On Saturday, September 13, Trump published a letter on his social network Truth Social “to NATO members and the world” in which he called the cessation of purchases of Russian oil by NATO members a precondition for imposing sanctions on Russia, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
“I am ready to impose serious sanctions on Russia when all NATO countries agree and begin to do the same and when all NATO countries stop buying oil from Russia,” Trump said.
In addition, the American president called on NATO countries to impose duties of 50 to 100 percent on Chinese goods, the abolition of which should be linked to the end of the war. “If NATO does what I say, the war (between Russia and Ukraine – Ed.) will end quickly,” Trump said. He is currently accusing NATO of having a “weak position” in negotiations with Russia.
Trump has already called on Europe to stop buying Russian oil
As you know, this is not the first time that Trump, who is making efforts to end Russia’s war against Ukraine, has called for sanctions against Russia, but he has previously issued time-bound ultimatums to Russian President Vladimir Putin. This is also not the first time Trump has called for an end to Russian oil purchases and pressure on China. For example, in early September, during a meeting of the “coalition of the willing,” he called on European leaders to stop buying oil from Russia and claimed that energy revenues help Russia finance its war against Ukraine. In particular, he accused the EU of having received $1.1 billion from Russian oil purchases. At the same time, Trump called on European leaders to put economic pressure on China for “financing Russia’s war effort.”
As a reminder, NATO is a military and political alliance. NATO members in Europe are also partially members of the EU, a political and economic union.
In the EU, Russian oil is mostly subject to an embargo imposed in 2023, but due to exceptions for the Druzhba pipeline, Slovakia and Hungary, which are also NATO members, continue to buy it.
