Ahead of President Donald Trump’s deadline for Russia to work out a ceasefire with Ukraine, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff traveled to Moscow Wednesday to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The White House sent Witkoff on his fifth visit to Russia this year to continue peace talks and negotiations over potential sanctions. Trump told Putin last week that he had 10 days to broker a peace deal with Ukraine before hefty sanctions would be imposed. This 10-day window ends Friday.
A spokesperson for the Kremlin called Wednesday’s three-hour meeting “very useful and constructive” but said he would hold off on elaborating further until Witkoff briefed Trump. Witkoff departed Moscow for Washington shortly after the meeting concluded.
Trump has been engaging in talks with Putin over several months with the goal of ending the deadly three-year-long conflict between Russia and Ukraine. After growing frustrated with Putin last month due to his lack of progress, Trump hit the Kremlin with a firm deadline of Aug. 8 to take concrete action before sanctions would be imposed.
The White House has not said whether these sanctions would be imposed directly on Russia or what their rate would be. Trump has also suggested the possibility of imposing secondary sanctions on countries that import fossil fuels from Russia, with the goal of isolating the Kremlin on the world stage.
Hours after Witkoff’s meeting with Putin, Trump slapped an additional 25% tariff on India in retaliation for importing Russian oil and gas. This brings India’s total tariff rate to 50%, one of the highest tariffs imposed by the U.S in recent weeks.
Trump warned India of increased tariffs earlier this week, saying India is working against U.S. efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“They don’t care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine,” Trump said on social media Monday.
India’s foreign ministry responded to the increased tariff rate Wednesday, calling Trump’s actions “unfair, unjustified and unreasonable.”
“Our imports are based on market factors and done with the overall objective of ensuring the energy security of 1.4 billion people of India,” the statement said. “India will take all actions necessary to protect its national interests.”
