Original Coverage & Source Attribution: news.az
US President Donald Trump has suspended numerous sanctions against Russia just two days before they were due to take effect, as tensions with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, continue to escalate, the BBC reported.
The sanctions were passed by the US Congress and signed into law by Trump in September.
However, the US president issued an executive order late Friday stating that suspending some of the measures was in the US “national interest,” prompting a backlash from American lawmakers.
Relations between Washington and Kyiv deteriorated this week after the United States struck a controversial deal to import Russian diesel. Ukraine subsequently accused the Trump administration of withdrawing key military support.
Trump and Zelenskyy have exchanged sharp remarks throughout the week. Addressing an EU summit, Ukraine’s president made a pointed reference to being among “real leaders” after Trump said he was “more difficult to deal with” than Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The new US sanctions law targeted Russia’s economy, granting Trump broad powers to impose tariffs of up to 100 percent on imports from the five largest purchasers of Russian oil and gas, most notably China and India.
The legislation also included sanctions against senior Russian figures, including Putin, as well as Russian financial institutions and Moscow’s so-called “shadow fleet” of vessels used to circumvent existing embargoes.
Trump has now waived many of these provisions.
News.Az
By Nijat Babayev
