Russian chief says sanctions are ‘severe for us’ however insisted he wouldn’t bend to US stress over conflict on Ukraine.
Revealed On 23 Oct 2025
Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to not bend to stress from the West after the US hit Russia’s two largest oil corporations with sanctions.
US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Russia’s top oil firms, Rosneft and Lukoil, on Wednesday in an effort to stress Putin to achieve a ceasefire in his nation’s invasion of Ukraine. Trump’s sanctions carried the specter of dangers to international monetary establishments that do enterprise with these corporations — a warning that would make it tougher for nations like India to proceed to purchase oil from Moscow.
The European Union adopted a brand new spherical of sweeping sanctions towards Russian vitality exports on Thursday, as nicely, banning liquefied pure gasoline imports.
Whereas Putin referred to as the US sanctions an “unfriendly act” on Thursday, the Russian president downplayed their results.
“They’re severe for us, in fact, that’s clear. And they’ll have sure penalties, however they won’t considerably impression our financial wellbeing,” Putin mentioned. “That is, in fact, an try to put stress on Russia. However no self-respecting nation and no self-respecting folks ever decides something underneath stress.”
The sanctions introduced by Trump are the most recent twist in his shifting policy on the conflict on Ukraine. Trump has repeatedly switched positions on the conflict: swinging from admonishing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for not appreciating US help to criticising Putin for not being open to ceasefire negotiations.
Putin has referred to as for the complete disarmament of Ukraine and for Russia to maintain any territory it has seized in the course of the conflict. That place appears to be non-negotiable for Ukraine, and Trump has been unable to make any headway between the 2 positions.
Plans for an in-person meeting between Trump and Putin fell apart this week after Trump proposed “freezing” the Russia-Ukraine conflict with a ceasefire alongside the present entrance traces.
Whereas Trump mentioned on Wednesday that he cancelled the assembly with the Russian president over Putin’s stance on Ukraine, the White Home has mentioned a gathering between the 2 presidents wasn’t fully off the desk.
“I feel the president and the whole administration hopes that at some point that may occur once more, however we wish to ensure that there’s a tangible optimistic consequence out of that assembly,” White Home spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt mentioned on Thursday.
Trump has additionally prompt he may ship Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, permitting it to hit longer-range targets deeper inside Russia. Zelenskyy had hoped to safe an settlement on the weapons in a gathering on the White Home final week, however left and not using a deal.
On Thursday, Putin referred to as any plans to produce Ukraine with long-range missiles “an try at escalation”.
“If such weapons are used to assault Russian territory, the response will probably be very severe, if not overwhelming. Allow them to give it some thought,” he mentioned.
