To 'collapse' Russian economy, Trump ready to start secondary sanctions against Moscow - Jerusalem Post Staff

 

by Jerusalem Post Staff

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the administration was ready to attempt to "collapse" Russia's economy with help from the European Union.

 

US President Donald Trump, next to Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, speaks during an event to announce that the Space Force Command will move from Colorado to Alabama, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, US, September 2, 2025

(photo credit: REUTERS)

US President Donald Trump said that his administration was ready to instate a second round of sanctions against Russia in comments to the press on Sunday.

"Are you ready to move to the second phase of sanctions against Russia?" a reporter asked Trump as he left the White House to attend the US Open in New York.

"Yeah, I am," Trump responded.

Additionally, in a Sunday interview with NBC’s Meet the Press, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the administration was ready to dial up pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, he noted that the European Union needed to assist in order to fully "collapse" the Russian economy.

"We are prepared to increase pressure on Russia, but we need our European partners to follow us," Bessent said.

Residents stand at the site of an apartment building hit during a Russian drone and missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, August 30, 2025. (credit: REUTERS/Stringer TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

US wants EU to help 'collapse' Russian economy to help bring Putin to table

"We are in a race now between how long the Ukrainian military can hold up versus how long the Russian economy can hold up," he added. "And if the US and the [European Union] can come in, do more sanctions and secondary tariffs on the countries that buy Russian oil, the Russian economy will be in total collapse, and that will bring [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin to the table."

Earlier on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told ABC that he approves of putting secondary tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil and gas.

"I’m very thankful to all the partners, but some of them, I mean, they continue to buy oil and Russian gas, and this is not fair," Zelensky said.

"The Russian economy is pressured, and all the countries that trade with Russia are pressured, and we will continue with this," he said in a social media post on Thursday, adding that "secondary sanctions and special trade tariffs" can help.

Early Sunday morning, Russia struck a Ukrainian government building in Kyiv, a first in the three-year-old war.

CNN reported that the overnight attack was Russia’s largest one yet; Moscow sent a total of 800 drones and 13 missiles to Ukraine.

Zelensky called the strikes a "deliberate crime and a prolongation of the war."

"It has been repeatedly said in Washington that sanctions will follow a refusal to talk," he added.

US Special Envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, wrote that he believed Russia was escalating the war.

"The danger in any war is escalation. Russia appears to be escalating with the largest attack of the war, hitting offices of the UKR Cabinet in Kyiv," Kellogg posted on X/Twitter. "History shows events can escalate out of control through actions as these. It is why President Trump is working to stop this war. The attack was not a signal that Russia wants to diplomatically end this war."

Jerusalem Post Staff

Source: https://www.jpost.com/international/internationalrussia-ukraine-war/article-866680

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