US President Donald Trump's refusal to follow the EU's lead in imposing new sanctions on Russia shows a split in NATO, writes The New York Times.
According to sources in the publication, after talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Trump told EU leaders and Volodymyr Zelensky that Russia and Ukraine must find a way to resolve the conflict on their own and that Washington does not intend to join new sanctions against Russia in the near future. This approach points to the emergence of a split in the North Atlantic Alliance, the newspaper believes, noting that disagreements between the US and the EU are likely to intensify by the time of the NATO summit in June, which will be held in The Hague.
Trump regularly threatens sanctions and tariffs on both allies and opponents of the US, the daily recalls, but this time he has changed his position. As an unnamed White House official told the newspaper, the new anti-Russian restrictions could also hinder American business, but Trump wants to avoid this.
The content of the conversations between the US president with the heads of European countries and Zelensky shows that the period of active American diplomatic efforts, arms supplies to Kiev and sanctions pressure on Russia is quickly ending, concludes The New York Times.
On Tuesday, the Axios portal, citing sources, reported that European leaders were “surprised and shocked“ both by Trump's statements after his phone call with Putin, and by his markedly respectful tone towards the Russian leader.
On May 19, the presidents of the Russian Federation and the United States held their third phone call since the beginning of the year, which lasted more than two hours. According to Putin, he was "frank and informative. The Russian head of state declared that Moscow is ready to work with Kiev on a memorandum for a future peace treaty.