Washington, March 31 (IANS) US President Donald Trump has said that he is “pissed off” with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, telling NBC News in a phone interview last week that he could impose additional tariffs on Russian oil if Putin doesn’t cooperate in ongoing negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
“I was very angry — pissed off — when Putin started getting into Zelensky’s credibility, because that’s not going in the right location, you understand?” Trump said in the interview with “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker, who reported more on the discussion on Sunday, CNN reported.
Trump referred to Putin discussing the need, in his view, for new leadership in Ukraine.
“But new leadership means you’re not gonna have a deal for a long time, right?” the US President said.
Trump warned that failure to reach a deal could result in secondary tariffs, CNN reported.
“If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia’s fault — which it might not be — but if I think it was Russia’s fault, I am going to put secondary tariffs on oil, on all oil coming out of Russia,” he said.
Asked if he would talk to Putin this week if the Russian leader “does the right thing,” Trump said, “Yeah.”
He also told Welker that Putin is aware he is angry.
Trump said 25 per cent tariffs could happen at any moment, adding that he plans to speak with Putin this week.
On Thursday, Putin suggested that a temporary administration under the supervision of the United Nations should be introduced in Ukraine — a proposal swiftly rejected by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Russian officials have repeatedly discredited Zelensky’s legitimacy as President, noting that no elections had been held since his term expired.
A vote has not been scheduled in Ukraine because the country’s constitution mandates that elections cannot be held under martial law, which has been in place since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbouring country three years ago.
There was no immediate reaction from Moscow to Trump’s comments. Russia has called numerous Western sanctions and restrictions “illegal” and designed for the West to take economic advantage in its rivalry with Russia.
Trump’s latest remarks followed a day of meetings and golf with Finnish President Alexander Stubb on Saturday.
Stubb’s office said he told Trump that a deadline needs to be set for establishing a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire to make it happen, and suggested April 20, since Trump would have been in office then for three months.
US officials have been separately pushing Kyiv to accept a critical minerals agreement, a summary of which suggested that the US was demanding all of Ukraine’s natural resources income for years.
Zelensky has said Kyiv’s lawyers needed to review the draft before he could say more about the offer.
Trump last week imposed what he called a 25 per cent secondary tariff on US imports from any country buying oil or gas from Venezuela.
His remarks on Sunday suggest he could take similar action against US imports from countries that buy oil from Russia, a move that could hit China and India particularly hard.
Trump’s sharply critical tone stands in stark contrast to his own words on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his own calls for elections for the war-torn country.
–IANS
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