AUGUST 6, 2025
Vladimir Putin was given until Friday to agree to a ceasefire or face tariffs on Russia’s main trading partners – Shutterstock
Donald Trump declared Russia an “extraordinary threat” to the United States on Wednesday as he rolled out his first sanctions over Vladimir Putin’s refusal to stop the war in Ukraine.
The US president said that he would hit India with an additional 25 per cent trade tariff over its purchase of Russian oil, an important source of income for the Kremlin.
The so-called secondary tariff, which brings the total levy against India to 50 per cent, was announced in an executive order signed hours after envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s top envoy, met Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin for showdown talks.
Trump gave Putin until Friday to agree to a ceasefire or face tariffs on Russia’s main trading partners.
“I have received additional information from various senior officials on, among other things, the actions of the government of the Russian Federation with respect to the situation in Ukraine,” Trump said after Witkoff’s meeting.
Vladimir Putin greets Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff at the Kremlin – Garville Grigorov/Getty
The US president said this information meant that Moscow posed “an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States”.
“I determine that it is necessary and appropriate to impose an additional ad valorem duty on imports of articles of India, which is directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil,” he added.
Trump had suggested that Witkoff’s meeting with Putin would determine any decision for the US president to follow through on threats to impose tariffs on countries buying Russian energy.
India and China are among the countries buying the most Russian crude oil, which analysts say provides key revenues for Putin to fuel his war machine in Ukraine.
Despite Trump’s warm personal ties with Narendra Modi, relations between the countries have soured – Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
Reducing these revenue streams would make it harder for the Russian president to deliver his maximalist war aims in Ukraine.
The US could also move to ramp up sanctions against Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet”, which it uses to deliver oil to New Delhi and Beijing.
Witkoff met with Putin in Moscow on Wednesday for the fifth time, in what were considered crunch talks ahead of potential tariffs and sanctions.
Russian officials had hoped to head off the economically crippling measures by offering a partial “air truce” by halting missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities.
But this fell short of Trump’s demand for an unconditional, 30-day ceasefire, which would be used to pave the way for talks over a permanent peace.
A top Russian presidential aide had described the talks as “useful and constructive”.
“Russia had conveyed signals to the American side on the Ukrainian issue and received corresponding signals from Trump,” Yuri Ushakov told reporters after talks wrapped up.
He claimed that Trump had yet to be “briefed” on the talks, which he claimed focused on the “crisis in Ukraine” and “strategic US-Russia co-operation”.
But the US president announced his executive order with the first economic measures in an attempt to end the war.
It comes after four European countries promised to buy $1bn in US weapons for Ukraine as part of a scheme set up by Trump and Mark Rutte, Nato’s secretary-general.
Trump appears to be rowing in behind Kyiv’s cause after growing frustrated with Putin’s refusal to come to the negotiating table in a serious manner.
Courtesy/Source: The Telegraph
