Russia has rejected threats made on Monday by US President Donald Trump describing them as mere threatrical.
Trump announced on July 14th Washington’s decision to continue sending weapons and military equipment to Ukraine as long as Europe paid for arms deliveries.
The US leader also said that he would impose import tariffs of up to 100% on Russia and its trading partners in case Washington and Moscow failed to reach agreements on resolving the Ukraine conflict.
Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said in responce, “Trump issued a theatrical ultimatum to the Kremlin. The world shuddered, expecting the consequences. Belligerent Europe was disappointed. Russia didn’t care.”
At the same time, the European Union has begun informal discussions on a 19th package of anti-Russian sanctions.
“Discussions on the 19th package are already underway, although they are at an early and informal stage. The main problem is sanctions fatigue – not political, but technical. After 18 packages, restrictions have already been imposed on most obvious targets. Now the focus is on tightening controls, expanding secondary restrictions, and clarifying export and import controls,” said Czech MEP Tomas Zdechovsky.
However, Hungary and Slovakia continue to oppose the European Commission’s plan to ban oil and gas supplies from Russia to the EU by early 2028.
On June 23, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that during a meeting of EU foreign ministers that day, he and his Slovak counterpart, Juraj Blanar, blocked the approval of the 18th package and demanded that Brussels’ energy plan be removed from the agenda.
