US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday that Washington would unveil a major increase in sanctions against Russia, a day after President Donald Trump shelved talks with Moscow on the Ukraine war.
Trump has held off on new sanctions for months, saying he hoped to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to make peace despite growing frustration with the Kremlin leader.
"We are going to either announce after the close this afternoon, or first thing tomorrow morning, a substantial pickup in Russia sanctions," Bessent told reporters at the White House.
He did not immediately give any further details. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, the European Union said Wednesday it was also imposing new sanctions, including a ban on importing liquefied natural gas from Russia by 2027, the blacklisting of oil tankers used by Moscow and travel curbs on Russian diplomats.
Since returning to office in January, Trump has repeatedly dangled the threat of sanctions against Russia without pulling the trigger as he seeks an elusive end to Russia's three-and-a-half-year war.
Trump had held out hope of a ceasefire deal last week after speaking to Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying that the two leaders had agreed to meet in Budapest within two weeks.
Repeating a pattern of pivoting between Moscow and Kyiv, the US president at the same time pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to give up territory and turned down his plea for long-range Tomahawk missiles.
But Trump shifted once again on Tuesday, saying that he did not want to have a "wasted meeting," ending the immediate prospect of a Putin summit.
EU agrees new Russia sanctions over Ukraine war
The EU on Wednesday agreed to impose new sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine aimed at crimping Moscow's oil and gas revenues, said Denmark, which holds the EU's rotating presidency.
The package -- the 19th from the EU since the Kremlin's 2022 invasion -- comes as Europe seeks to keep the pressure on Russia in the face of US President Donald Trump's faltering peace push.
Kremlin-friendly Slovakia had held up adoption of the package over a separate issue as it sought protections for its car industry from EU climate legislation.
As part of the new measures, the 27-nation bloc is bringing forward a ban on the import of liquefied natural gas from Russia by a year to the start of 2027.
It is also blacklisting over 100 more tankers from the so-called "shadow fleet" of ageing vessels used to help Russia dodge restrictions on its oil exports.
Beyond efforts to hit Moscow's revenues, the EU was also looking to crack down on Russian diplomats suspected of espionage by imposing controls on their travel around Europe.
Those new measures mean that Russian diplomats have to inform the authorities in countries where they are stationed of any travel abroad.
Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico agreed to drop his opposition to the sanctions on Wednesday after claiming to get adequate assurances on the car industry.
The package will be formally adopted tomorrow, just before Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky joins EU leaders at a summit in Brussels.
AFP
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