Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday that decisions by the Trump administration to cancel a summit in Budapest and impose sanctions on Russian oil companies are “an act of war” against Russia.
“The US is our enemy, and their talkative ‘peacemaker’ has now fully embarked on the warpath with Russia,” Medvedev wrote on Telegram, referring to US president Donald Trump.
“The decisions taken are an act of war against Russia. And now Trump has fully aligned himself with loony Europe.”
His comment come after the United States sanctioned Rosneft and Lukoil, Russia’s two largest oil companies, as the Trump administration increased pressure on the Kremlin to negotiate an end to its war against Ukraine.
RM Block
The sanctions were the first against Russia since Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, and were targeted to cut key revenues from oil sales that finance the Russian war machine.
The move against Russia marks the latest swing of the pendulum under the Trump administration from coercing Kyiv to sue for peace to growing frustration with Vladimir Putin’s maximalist demands.
“Now is the time to stop the killing and for an immediate ceasefire,” said the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, in a statement announcing the sanctions against Russia.
“Given president Putin’s refusal to end this senseless war, Treasury is sanctioning Russia’s two largest oil companies that fund the Kremlin’s war machine. Treasury is prepared to take further action if necessary to support president Trump’s effort to end yet another war. We encourage our allies to join us in and adhere to these sanctions.”
The EU has sanctioned Rosneft, the Russian state-owned oil company, but not Lukoil, which is privately owned, largely due to exemptions for Hungary and Slovakia, which buy Russian oil.
The British government sanctioned Rosneft and Lukoil last week.
Mr Trump, speaking in the Oval Office with the Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, on Wednesday, also confirmed he had cancelled a planned summit with Mr Putin in another sign of a breakdown in negotiations between Washington and Moscow.
“We cancelled the meeting with President Putin,” Mr Trump said. “It didn’t feel right to me. It didn’t feel like we were going to get to the place we have to get so I cancelled it. But we’ll do it in the future.”
A report in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday said the administration had lifted restrictions on Ukraine’s use of British-supplied Storm Shadow cruise missiles, allowing Ukraine to use them for attacks deep inside of Russia despite concerns from Washington about a potential escalation of tensions with the Kremlin.
But Trump denied on social media that he had lifted any restrictions. “The Wall Street Journal story on the USA’s approval of Ukraine being allowed to use long range missiles deep into Russia is FAKE NEWS!” Mr Trump said. “The US has nothing to do with those missiles, wherever they may come from, or what Ukraine does with them.”
Wednesday’s sanctions were the latest and most direct attempt to cut revenues from Russian oil sales abroad. Previously, Mr Trump had levied a 25 per cent tariff on goods from India as what he called retaliation for that country’s purchase of discounted Russian oil.
“Rosneft was the most important Russian firm not yet under full US sanctions,” wrote Edward Fishman, a former senior state department sanctions official.
A big question that remained was whether the US would threaten foreign traders, banks and refineries that continue to facilitate the sale of Russian oil, he added.
The announcement marked a victory for Ukraine and its European allies, which have watched with concern as Mr Trump appeared swayed by Mr Putin’s arguments that the only way to achieve peace would be through Ukraine ceding territory and agree to limit its military and economic partnerships with Europe and the US.
The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said she had spoken with Mr Bessent shortly before the announcement and praised the new sanctions.
“With the imminent adoption of the EU’s 19th [sanctions] package, this is a clear signal from both sides of the Atlantic that we will keep up collective pressure on the aggressor,” she wrote.
The EU is expected to introduce a ban on imports of Russian liquefied natural gas, blacklist ships in Russia’s “shadow fleet” of oil tankers, forbid financial dealings with Rosneft and Gazprom Neft, and target a number of Russian banks and entities enabling Russia to evade the existing sanctions.
The sanctions are also expected to limit the movement of Russian diplomats across the visa-free Schengen area.
Elsewhere, European leaders aim to put on a show of support for Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Brussels on Thursday after a rollercoaster few days that saw Mr Trump announce and then back away from plans to meet Mr Putin.
At a summit meeting, leaders of the European Union are expected to meet Mr Zelenskiy, reiterate backing for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and agree to develop a proposal to use frozen Russian assets for a big loan to Kyiv.
Mr Zelenskiy will also receive a boost in the form of a new package of EU sanctions against Russia. – Guardian and agencies
