Trump’s Offer and Trump’s Sword
Published in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
(Germany) on 13 May 2025
by Nikolas Busse (link to
original)
If Putin continues to try to buy time, the U.S. president should remind himself of his own proposals. But the EU in particular would struggle to impose hard sanctions on Russia.
Vladimir Putin is not the only master of the game of reacting to proposals with counter-proposals. If the Russian president thought that he could evade the debate about a cease-fire with long-winded, low-level negotiations in Istanbul, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy have thrown a wrench into that plan. Now, Putin is again under pressure to make a move. Trump, in particular, had the right instincts there.
Secondary Sanctions against Russia’s Oil Clients
The American president shouldn’t forget, however, what he wrote in a recent post: If the meeting planned for Thursday in Istanbul doesn’t yield any results, then Europe and the U.S. will, in fact, know “where everything stands, and can proceed accordingly!”
That may be easier said than done. The sanctions against Russia have mostly been exhausted. One of the last sharp swords that the West can still draw would be what Trump himself floated some time ago: secondary sanctions against Russia’s oil clients. That would especially affect China, India, Turkey, the EU, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.
So, it would mean considering other interests, too, from trade to geopolitics. And in Europe, resistance could be expected from the affected administrations. One reason Putin has been able to continue the war is that he could always count on these conflicts over goals.
Vladimir Putin is not the only master of the game of reacting to proposals with counter-proposals. If the Russian president thought that he could evade the debate about a cease-fire with long-winded, low-level negotiations in Istanbul, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy have thrown a wrench into that plan. Now, Putin is again under pressure to make a move. Trump, in particular, had the right instincts there.
Secondary Sanctions against Russia’s Oil Clients
The American president shouldn’t forget, however, what he wrote in a recent post: If the meeting planned for Thursday in Istanbul doesn’t yield any results, then Europe and the U.S. will, in fact, know “where everything stands, and can proceed accordingly!”
That may be easier said than done. The sanctions against Russia have mostly been exhausted. One of the last sharp swords that the West can still draw would be what Trump himself floated some time ago: secondary sanctions against Russia’s oil clients. That would especially affect China, India, Turkey, the EU, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.
So, it would mean considering other interests, too, from trade to geopolitics. And in Europe, resistance could be expected from the affected administrations. One reason Putin has been able to continue the war is that he could always count on these conflicts over goals.
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