US "frustrated" with Russia for lack of interest or action on peace deal; says new sanctions appropriate, necessary

Washington DC [US], October 24 : The imposition of new sanctions on Russian oil companies by the United States was "appropriate and necessary", a sign of the frustration over the slow progress being made on a potential Russia-Ukraine peace deal, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday (local time).

"The president (Donald Trump) has always maintained that he would implement sanctions on Russia when he felt it was appropriate and necessary. And yesterday was that day. The president has also long expressed his frustration with Vladimir Putin (Russian President) and both sides of this war (Russia-Ukraine)", Leavitt said during a press briefing at the White House.

Criticising the lack of "interest or action" from the Russian side to move towards peace, Leavitt said that while a potential meeting between President Vladamir Putin and President Trump is "not completely off the table" the US would rather have a tangible positive outcome from a meeting.

"He's always said that in order to negotiate a good peace deal, both sides need to be interested in it. He feels, unfortunately, that on the Russian side, as of late, he has not seen enough interest or action in moving the ball forward towards peace. A meeting between these two leaders (Trump and Putin) is not completely off the table. The president and the entire administration hope that it can happen again one day. But we want to make sure that there's a tangible positive outcome out of that meeting and that it's a good use of the president's time," Leavitt said.

Expressing the desire of President Trump to see action, not just talk, to move towards peace, Leavitt added that the US wants to ensure the now-postponed meeting between the two leaders is a good use of Trump's time.

"The president wants to make sure that a meeting between himself and President Putin will be a good use of his time... The president wants to see action, not just talk. The president is extremely motivated by the success of his Middle East peace deal to get things done. And he wants this war to end. He's been saying it for nine months now, since being in office. And he's grown increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress," the White House Press Secy said.

Leavitt further mentioned that the newly imposed sanctions on two Russian oil companies are pretty "hefty", while repeating the claim that India, along with other countries like China, is scaling back purchases from Russia.

"If you read the sanctions and look at them, they're pretty hefty. I saw some international news this morning that China is scaling back oil purchases from Russia. We know India has done the same at the president's request. The president has also pushed European countries, our allies, to stop buying Russian oil. So it's a full-court press for sure. We expect that these sanctions are going to harm, as the Secretary of the Treasury said yesterday," she said.

While the US has imposed sanctions on Russia's two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, Moscow has called it an "unfriendly move" that would not help their relations with Washington. President Vladimir Putin said that the new restrictions would have little effect on Russia's economy, adding, "No self-respecting country ever does anything under pressure, " according to Russia Today.

Putin accused the United States of repeatedly using sanctions to exert pressure, saying such tactics would fail. He also hinted that "certain people in the US administration" had pushed for restrictions on Russian oil exports, questioning whose interests they truly work for.

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