Trump Threatens Moscow Again: Putin is Skilled but There is No Escape from Sanctions

In a recent interview with "Newsmax", U.S. President Donald Trump described his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as tough to deal with, but very skilled in handling the sanctions imposed on his country.

Trump confirmed that despite Putin's toughness, they had good previous talks that almost led to ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, noting that they came close three times to achieving this goal.

Trump said that those talks were going positively, but suddenly "the bombs start flying", as he put it, which hindered reaching a final agreement.

He expressed his desire to end this raging war between the two countries, emphasizing that the United States will move forward with imposing additional sanctions on Moscow if serious steps are not taken to end the conflict that has been ongoing since February 2022.

On another note, Trump harshly criticized Russian National Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev, calling him a "failure", following his controversial statements regarding nuclear weapons.

This escalation comes amid mutual verbal tension between the two sides in recent days, as Trump previously announced that he ordered the deployment of two U.S. nuclear submarines to strategic locations in response to Medvedev's provocative statements.

Medvedev had criticized Trump through a post on Telegram, referring to the "dead hand" nuclear control system developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War, after Trump described the Russian and Indian economies as "dead".

In the midst of this tension, Trump set a deadline ending next weekend, demanding Russia take clear steps to end the war, or else it will face a new wave of U.S. sanctions.