Latest news with #Russia Ukraine war
Al Mayadeen
2 days ago
- Business
- Al Mayadeen
Putin says Russia, Ukraine peace proposals contradictory
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that peace talks between Russia and Ukraine remain stalled, with each side's demands 'absolutely contradictory,' following two failed rounds of negotiations. During recent talks in Istanbul, negotiators exchanged memoranda outlining their visions for ending the war, now in its third year. However, aside from agreeing to large-scale prisoner swaps, the meetings yielded no meaningful progress toward a ceasefire. "As for the memorandums, as expected, nothing surprising happened... these are two absolutely contradictory memorandums," Putin said during a press conference in Minsk, Belarus. "That's why negotiations are being organised and conducted, in order to find a path to bringing them closer together." At the talks, Russia has demanded Ukraine surrender more territory and renounce Western military assistance—conditions Kiev flatly rejects as unacceptable. Putin has intensified aerial attacks as his forces continue advancing beyond the five Ukrainian regions Moscow claims to have annexed. Following limited progress during the June 2 peace talks, Putin confirmed that both sides would maintain contact, especially after implementing a prisoner exchange deal involving over 1,000 wounded, ill, or young soldiers. He also stated Russia is prepared to return the bodies of 3,000 fallen Ukrainian troops. Putin also revealed the war is straining Russia's economy, revealing that defense spending now consumes 6.3% of GDP, around 13.5 trillion rubles ($172 billion). 'It's a lot,' he said, noting it has fueled inflation but claimed the government is working to bring it under control. During a press conference in Belarus, Putin also criticized NATO's recent pledge to raise defense spending to 5% of GDP, calling the move 'aggressive.' Russia does not view itself as an enemy of the West and remains open to dialogue, provided the West abandons its confrontational stance toward Moscow, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko said on Monday. In remarks to Russia's RIA Novosti, Grushko emphasized that Moscow's foreign policy concept is not guided by hostility. 'We do not consider ourselves enemies of the West. We are ready for dialogue, but only if our opponents abandon their confrontational policy against Russia and halt eastward expansion,' he said. Grushko also underscored that any dialogue must be based on 'sovereign equality and mutual respect for national interests.' His comments come in response to NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte's recent suggestion that relations with Russia should eventually return to normal after the end of the Ukraine war. Grushko was skeptical of the prospect, saying Rutte's vision represents 'a very long-term perspective that is nowhere on the horizon yet.' Earlier, in an interview for Bloomberg, Rutte stated that it is natural for Europe and the US to seek a gradual normalization of relations with Russia after the conflict concludes. 'The war will have to fade eventually, and with it, so too must our estrangement,' he remarked.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump threatens 100% tariffs on Russia if Ukraine war continues
President Trump is threatening severe economic penalties on Russia if the war in Ukraine doesn't end within 50 days, including 100% tariffs on Russia and secondary sanctions on Russia's trading partners. Yahoo Finance Correspondent Ben Werschkul joins Market Domination to explain how global oil markets and key nations like India and China could respond. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Market Domination here. President Trump announced earlier today was at the bottom line a very plans to have very serious economic consequences if he can't end the war between Russia and Ukraine. What he described as very severe secondary tariffs on on on Russia and its trading partners. There's some confusion here in Washington over the details of this. Howard Luck talked to reporters afterwards and said this could take the form of tariffs or sanctions, and CNN is reporting that what Trump actually meant was 100% tariffs on Russia itself and then secondary sanctions on Russian oil. Either way, it's a sort of focus on the economic side of this Russia-Ukraine war that is clearly frustrating Trump. He expressed over and over again today his his frustration with Vladimir Putin, frustration with the fact that this war is not going on. And so we now have this new 50-day deadline, which which gets us to the end of the summer where Trump is trying to end this war, or in one form or another, a lot of economic pressure is coming. And and as you mentioned, there's a lot of other tariff headlines. I'll just mention one real quickly, which is Europe. There's a lot of back and forth there today. Um, but talks with Europe are continuing after Trump's announcement of a 30% tariff over the weekend there. A lot of optimism on both sides that the talks are at least going to continue, and that's yet another deadline here on August 1st. Ben, let's say Trump really followed through with this. I am just curious, how do you think Moscow would or could, not just Moscow, but also Moscow and its trading partners, how could they respond to that, Ben? Yeah, I think it's a big question is exactly the form that this would take. I do think the oil piece of this is clearly the most significant one way or another, whatever form it takes. John McCain very famously called Russia a gas station masquerading as a country, and I think that's that's where you're going to see a lot of reaction here if Trump is is serious about following through here. The big, big, big consumers of Russian oil maintain to this day, India, China, Europe, countries like that. So that's the part where is is clearly what Trump, I think, is aiming for as a leverage point, and where you're going to see a lot of attention from world capitals, not just in Moscow. The big question you kind of alluded to there is whether Vladimir Putin is changing his position at all on this because of this new threat. That's very unclear. But clearly, if you're in India right now, which is very dependent on Russian oil, you're watching this closely. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
