President Donald Trump of the United States, US, has expressed optimism that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, will fulfill his part of a deal to end the war in Ukraine.
Trump disclosed this while addressing reporters at the White House on Monday.
According to Trump: “I think he’s going to live up to what he told me, and I think he’s going to fulfill his part of the deal now.”
This comes as Trump had said he was “pissed off”; with Putin over his approach to a ceasefire deal in Ukraine.
Trump had said he would resort to throwing more punishment at Russia if Putin fails to cooperate.
Part of the punishment, according to Trump, would be to levy tariffs on Russia’s oil exports.
He said both parties, especially Putin, must not fail to agree to a truce within a month.
The US president said the tariff could be as much as 25% or 50% on countries buying Russian oil.
In an interview with NBC News, Trump said: “If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia’s fault, which it might not be, but if I think it was Russia’s fault, I am going to put secondary tariffs on oil, on all oil coming out of Russia.
“That would be that if you buy oil from Russia, you can’t do business in the United States. There will be a 25% tariff on all ... on all oil, a 25 to 50-point tariff on all oil.”;
Trump made the remark after Putin tried to attack the legitimacy of Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Ukrainian President on Friday.
Putin had suggested Ukraine could be placed under a temporary UN-led government to organise fresh elections before negotiating a peace deal.
