Trump won't increase sanctions against Russia, but doesn't rule them out in the future

Donald Trump, photo: AP

US President Donald Trump has said that he has no plans to tighten sanctions against Russia after a telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin.

According to CNN, Trump said that there is a chance for progress in the negotiations, so it is not advisable to impose new restrictions.

«If you do, you can make things much worse,» he explained his position.

At the same time, the US president did not rule out that sanctions could still be imposed in the future.

«There may come a time when that happens,» he said.

As a reminder, after a telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump said he was ready to stop participating in negotiations with Russia to end the war in Ukraine if he did not see any real progress. Although, according to him, some progress was made «during the phone conversation».

At the same time, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that a new package of sanctions against Russia could be adopted on 20 May at a meeting of the Council of the European Union in Brussels. According to him, the fact that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy went to Istanbul for talks is «a great concession». Instead, Russian President Vladimir Putin, by refusing to go to Turkey, «put himself in an awkward position».