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Russia does not care about Trump's theatrics, official says

Russia does not care about Trump's theatrics, official says

Global News15-07-2025
The Kremlin on Tuesday reacted icily to United States President Donald Trump's warnings to Russian President Vladimir Putin over Ukraine, saying that recent decisions by the U.S. president and the NATO military alliance would be interpreted by Kyiv as a signal to continue the war.
Trump, sitting beside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office, on July 14, announced new weapons for Ukraine and threatened 'biting' secondary tariffs of 100 per cent on the buyers of Russian exports unless there is a peace deal in 50 days.
'The U.S. president's statements are very serious. Some of them are addressed personally to President Putin,' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
'We certainly need time to analyze what was said in Washington.'
Peskov, though, added that it was already clear that decisions being made in Washington and other NATO capitals were 'perceived by the Ukrainian side not as a signal for peace but as a signal to continue the war.'
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Putin, who has spoken to Trump by telephone at least six times this year, has yet to comment publicly on Trump's remarks.
But two other senior Russian officials did not hold back.
Former President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chair of Russia's Security Council, said Moscow did not care about Trump's 'theatrical ultimatum,' while a senior Russian diplomat, Sergei Ryabkov, suggested that giving ultimatums to Moscow was unacceptable and pointless.
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Trump, who has said he wants to be seen as a 'peacemaker' president, said he wanted to see the end of the war – on which he said the United States had spent $350 billion – but that he had been 'disappointed' by Putin.
Trump specifically expressed frustration that Putin's 'talk' about peace was often followed by Russian strikes on major Ukrainian cities, and indicated Washington wanted to press Moscow into ending the war by sending more arms to Ukraine.
'I don't want to say he's an assassin, but he's a tough guy,' Trump said of Putin, a reference to former U.S. President Joe Biden calling the Russian leader 'a killer' in a 2021 interview.
1:42
Russia launches barrage of drones, missiles at Kyiv as US resumes Ukraine weapons deliveries
The Financial Times reported that Trump had privately encouraged Ukraine to step up strikes deep in Russian territory, even asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy whether he could hit Moscow if the U.S. provided long-range weapons.
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Trump told the BBC that he was 'not done' with Putin and that he thought a Ukraine peace deal was on the cards.
Putin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces. The United States says 1.2 million people have been injured or killed in the war.
In Moscow, state television broadcasts led with advances by Russian troops in Ukraine, of which Russian forces control just under a fifth, and an attack on Russia by Ukrainian drones which injured 18 people.
Kommersant, one of Russia's most respected newspapers, invoked William Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar' in its front page headline to suggest betrayal: 'Et tu, Trump – the main peacekeeper of Ukrainian conflict joined the 'party of war'.'
Putin has repeatedly said he is ready to make peace – but on his terms – and that there is no point discussing a ceasefire until the details of what a peace would look like are nailed down.
In Washington, a White House official said Trump's intention is to impose '100 per cent tariffs on Russia' and secondary sanctions on other countries that buy oil from Russia if a peace deal is not struck in 50 days.
'We can do secondary,' Trump said. 'We're probably talking about 100 percent or something like that. We can do secondary tariffs without the Senate, without the House, but what they're crafting also could be very good.'
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Eighty-five of the 100 U.S. senators are co-sponsoring a bill that would give Trump the authority to impose 500 per cent tariffs on any country that helps Russia.
China, India and Turkey are the biggest buyers of crude from Russia, the world's second largest exporter of oil.
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Solid Transaction-Based Revenues to Drive HOOD's Q2 Earnings
Solid Transaction-Based Revenues to Drive HOOD's Q2 Earnings

Globe and Mail

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  • Globe and Mail

Solid Transaction-Based Revenues to Drive HOOD's Q2 Earnings

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US stocks edge higher as a busy week for markets picks up momentum
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Globe and Mail

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US stocks edge higher as a busy week for markets picks up momentum

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With AI plan, Trump keeps chipping away at a foundational environmental law
With AI plan, Trump keeps chipping away at a foundational environmental law

Winnipeg Free Press

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  • Winnipeg Free Press

With AI plan, Trump keeps chipping away at a foundational environmental law

When President Donald Trump rolled out a plan to boost artificial intelligence and data centers, a key goal was wiping away barriers to rapid growth. And that meant taking aim at the National Environmental Policy Act — a 55-year-old, bedrock law aimed at protecting the environment though a process that requires agencies to consider a project's possible impacts and allows the public to be heard before a project is approved. Data centers, demanding vast amounts of energy and water, have aroused strong opposition in some communities. The AI Action Plan Trump announced last week would seek to sweep aside NEPA, as it's commonly known, to streamline environmental reviews and permitting for data centers and related infrastructure. Republicans and business interests have long criticized NEPA for what they see as unreasonable slowing of development, and Trump's plan would give 'categorical exclusions' to data centers for 'maximum efficiency' in permitting. 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An executive order that touched on environmental statutes has many agencies scrapping the requirement for a draft environmental impact statement. And the CEQ in May withdrew Biden-era guidance that federal agencies should consider the effects of planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions when conducting NEPA reviews. Separately, the U.S. Supreme Court in May narrowed the scope of environmental reviews required for major infrastructure projects. In a ruling involving a Utah railway expansion project aimed at quadrupling oil production, the court said NEPA wasn't designed 'for judges to hamstring new infrastructure and construction projects.' 'It's been a rough eight months for NEPA,' said Dinah Bear, a former general counsel at the Council on Environmental Quality under both Democratic and Republican presidents. John Ruple, a research professor of law at the University of Utah, said sidelining NEPA could actually slow things down. 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'It's a fundamental concept: 'Don't just roar ahead.' Think about your options,' O'Brien said. O'Brien, who later worked at the Grand Canyon Trust, also co-chaired a working group that weighed in on a 2018 Forest Service proposal, finalized in 2016, for aspen restoration on Monroe Mountain in Utah. Hunters, landowners, loggers and ranchers all had different opinions on how the restoration should be handled. She said NEPA's requirement to get the public involved made for better research and a better plan. 'I think it's one of the laws that's the most often used by the public without the public being aware,' said Stephen Schima, senior legislative counsel at environmental law nonprofit Earthjustice. 'NEPA has long been the one opportunity for communities and impacted stakeholders and local governments to weigh in.' Schima said rolling back the power of NEPA threatens the scientific integrity of examining projects' full impacts. 'Decisions are going to be less informed by scientific studies, and that is one of the major concerns here,' he said. Ruple said uncertainty from NEPA changes and competing opinions on how to comply with the law's requirements may invite even more litigation. Wednesdays What's next in arts, life and pop culture. 'And all of this will fall on the shoulder of agencies that are losing the staff needed to lead them through these changes,' he said. ___ Follow Melina Walling on X @MelinaWalling and Bluesky @ ___ The Associated Press' climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at

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