Washington DC [US], July 16 : Echoing US President Donald Trump's stance on imposing economic sanctions against countries maintaining trade ties with Russia if Moscow doesn't put an end to the conflict in Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Tuesday (local time) urged India, China, and Brazil to reconsider their economic relations with Russia, warning of potential secondary sanctions, reported Reuters.
In a press conference, Rutte, speaking alongside US Senators Thom Tillis and Jeanne Shaheen, co-chairs of the Senate NATO Observer Group, emphasised the urgency of the situation, noting Trump's announcement on increasing military support for Ukraine, including air defence systems, missiles, and ammunition.
"What happened yesterday was important. First of all, the US will now supply Ukraine with weapons, not just air defence but also missiles and ammunition, paid for by the Europeans. And secondly, President Trump said basically if Russia is not serious about peace talks within 50 days, he will impose secondary sanctions on countries like India, China and Brazil," Rutte stated.
"My encouragement to these three countries, particularly, is that if you live now in Beijing or in Delhi, or you are the president of Brazil, you might want to take a look at this because this might hit you very hard," he added.
He further urged these countries to "make the phone call" to Russian President Putin to make him "get serious" about the peace talks, reflecting the potential economic repercussions.
"Please make the phone call to Vladimir Putin and tell him that he has to get serious about peace talks because otherwise this will slam back on Brazil, on India and on China in a massive way. So I think it was a very smartly, wisely designed announcement yesterday by President Trump," the NATO Chief stated.
Earlier on Monday (local time), Trump threatened to impose 100 per cent "secondary tariffs" on Russia if a deal on Ukraine is not reached within 50 days, during his meeting with Rutte in the White House
Trump also expressed disappointment with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin and threatened to impose severe tariffs if there is no deal within 50 days.
Meanwhile, moments after Trump's call for imposing 100 per cent "secondary tariffs" on Moscow, Senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal warned countries, including India, of economic sanctions if they continue business with Russia.
As per a joint statement by Graham and Blumenthal, China, India, Brazil and other nations "prop up Putin's war machine" by purchasing "cheap Russian oil and gas", which they claim is fuelling Putin's effort in the conflict with Russia. It also called for the imposition of tariffs as high as 500 per cent on any country that helps Russia.
Republican Senator Graham and Democratic Senator Blumenthal are leading 85 cosponsors on a bipartisan bill, "Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025", which they introduced in Congress earlier this year, calling for implementing sanctions on Moscow.
Blumenthal called for pushing the bill, introduced by him and Senator Graham on April 1, noting that the bill will impose "tougher penalties to deter India, China, Brazil" and other countries that are still in business with Moscow.
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