Witkoff travels to Russia while Trump threatens sanctions

Witkoff travels to Russia while Trump threatens sanctions

The nearby of President Donald Trump , the foreign policy envoy steve witkoff is expected on Wednesday in Moscow after the Kreml has asked him. This is done in a desperate attempt to avert the draconian new sanctions this week report familiar people.

conversations about the Ukraine conflict

Witkoff is expected to meet Russian official meetings, possibly even with President Vladimir Putin, while the ongoing war in Ukraine is the focus. Whether Putin succeeds in convincing Witkoff - and thus Trump - that he is interested in the end of the war, remains questionable. Trump has perceived Putin as little determined to end the conflict, and is careful not to be led by a guide, which he has now opened openly.

Putin's ambitions and Trump’s reaction

Putin continues to pursue its maximum goals in the conflict, which includes the conquest of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Cherson as well as the demand to Ukraine to limit the size of their military. One day before Witkoffs, Trump said that he would wait and see how the conversations were going before making a decision on the new sanctions. "We have a meeting with Russia tomorrow. We'll see what happens," he said in the White House. "We will make a decision at this time."

renewed escalation of the conflicts

At Witkoff's arrival in Moscow, the situation will be very different than at the last meeting with Putin in April, since Trump's frustration over his Russian counterpart has grown in recent months. Since this April, Russia has refused to participate in the US-led peace transfer in Ukraine, and started an offensive with rockets and drones that attacked the Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kiev.

A day before Witkoff's visit, Trump spoke by phone with the Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj to discuss possible sanctions against Moscow, as reported from participant circles. In a report on the conversation, Selenskyj said that these sanctions could "change a lot" when it comes to the Russian economy. It is also reported that you have discussed the increase in American weapons support for Ukraine, which Trump had approved last month.

Trump's diplomacy and military reactions

The US President is increasingly impatiently with Russia's resistance to his peace efforts. He called the air strikes "disgusting" and accused Putin of making "crap" in their tense telephone calls. Trump set a Friday as a deadline so that Russia either agrees to a peace agreement or accept new sanctions, including measures against his own economy and against buyers of his energy products.

Trump originally set a 50-day period, but shortened it after he saw little progress from Russia. Nevertheless, he has doubts that new sanctions will actually be effective after Moscow has found ways to escape the western measures that have been imposed since the beginning of the war. "There will be sanctions, but they seem to be quite good in avoiding sanctions," said Trump on Sunday. "They are torn characters and they are pretty good at bypassing sanctions. So we will see what happens."

additional measures and geopolitical tensions

Trump also announced that he has arranged the repositioning of Two US-BOOTE be " - a reaction to provocative remarks by Dmitri Medvedev, the former President of Russia and current vice chairman of the security council. However, even Foreign Minister Marco Rubio confirmed after these comments that Medledew was not a relevant player and that his statements will probably have no influence on the situation.

Some European officials saw Trump's announcement as a possibly an attempt to emphasize the nuclear skills of the United States in the run -up to Witkoff's visit. It remains unclear whether the United States actually repositioned one of its atomic submarines.

The consequences of sanctions and diplomacy

Trump has threatened two different types of measures if Moscow does not comply with peace on Friday. He announced that he would impose new sanctions on Russian imports to the United States, which had had little effect in view of the almost complete trade stop between the two countries since the beginning of the war. He also promised “secondary tariffs” to countries that import Russian energy - including China and India, the country's largest energy consumers. Such measures could potentially contribute to the financing of Russia's war machinery.

"Is August 8th an actual period or part of Trump's approach, which often includes creating pressure points and then determining how to use it?" asked a US official. "It is not real until Trump decides that it is real, based on a number of non -identified variables." In the past few weeks there have been active efforts to design possible secondary sanctions, report US officials and add that Trump's frustration with Putin was so great that he could possibly approve these measures.

economic challenges in Russia

Trump's willingness to apply new measures towards China in relation to its Russian energy purchases remains unclear because he strives for a comprehensive trade agreement with Beijing. In addition, US officials have described significant progress in the last conversations with their Chinese colleagues. Nevertheless, treasurer Scott Bessent has during trade talks in Stockholm last month told his Chinese colleagues directly that they should be prepared for sanctions if they continue to buy Russian oil.

Putin and China's President Xi Jinping have deepened their relationship in recent years, and China's support for Russia's efforts of war extends beyond energy purchases. China has provided Russia components for its weapons and drones that are used for attacks on Ukraine.

Witkoff's diplomatic challenge

Trump also began to change his tone towards Ukraine and emphasized that she needed the ability to defend it. With Witkoff's visit to Russia for the first time in months, his influence is again the focus. Earlier concerns among US officials and Russia experts on the diplomatic inexperience of the real estate developer have not decreased, especially after several early meetings with Putin, in which he was present without US translators.

After his last meeting with Putin, Witkoff said that the Russian leader "see the opportunity to re-calibrate the US Russian relationships for the first time in decades-although months later the war continues to rage and have not improved US Russian relationships.