U.S. Says Russia Sanctions 'Likely’ If Putin Does Not Negotiate On Ukraine

The new U.S. administration does not rule out hitting Russia with sanctions if Vladimir Putin refuses to negotiate about ending the war in Ukraine, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

“Sounds likely,” President Donals Trump told reporters Tuesday afternoon, when asked about potential sanctions in absence of Moscow's participation in peace talks, adding that his administration was also looking at the issue of sending weapons to Ukraine, but the EU "should be doing more" on that front.

"We're going to look at it," Trump said. "We're talking to [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy, we're going to be talking with President Putin very soon,"

Trump went on to add that he had suggested to Chinese President Xi Jinping during a recent phone call that Beijing help get the conflict settled.  “I said, you ought to get it settled, because he’s not done very much on that. He’s got a lot of power,” he said.

Trump's comment came just hours after Xi Jinping and Putin convened a 95-minute video call to pledge closer "strategic and economic" ties.

China’s support for Russia was also discussed in Washington later on Tuesday, during a meeting between new Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Japanese counterpart Iwaya Takeshi, TURAN's correspondent reports.

"The two also discussed concerns over both the DPRK’s political and security alignment with Russia, as well as China’s support for Russia’s defense industrial base," State Department's new spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a readout of Rubio-Takeshi meeting.