US President Donald Trump may decide to impose new anti-Russian sanctions within the next 24-36 hours. This was stated by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the air of the Fox Business television channel.
„The president will have to make this decision within the next 24-36 hours. A lot depends on how things develop in the coming days and what progress is made. And ultimately the president will have to decide whether he believes it is necessary to impose sanctions. I don't think we are at a stage yet where the president has to make a decision. He will get it by Friday“, said the head of American diplomacy.
He added that “today and tomorrow“ the American administration will try to understand to what extent Washington can bring the positions of Moscow and Kiev closer. “We will present the relevant information to the president and he will make a decision“, concluded Rubio.
He did not rule out the possibility of a telephone conversation between American leader Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in the next few days.
“This could happen in the next few days. But nothing is planned yet,” Rubio said. The US administration believes that at some point in the negotiations to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, a ceasefire should be declared, the secretary of state said. “At some point, a ceasefire should be part of that process, because it’s hard to negotiate the details of a final peace agreement when you’re shooting at each other,” he said. “So I think it’s important to make enough progress and outline the general outlines of how the war will end, ideally moving to a short-term ceasefire and using that time to finally resolve the conflict,” he explained. “But I think there’s a long way to go to figure out how to end the war,” he added. Rubio.
“I think we now have a better understanding of the conditions under which Russia is willing to end the war,“ he said. “Now we have to compare that to what the Ukrainians and our European allies are willing to accept, but first and foremost, of course, the Ukrainians,“ the secretary of state added.