"Trump shifts the blame to the EU". The US is in no hurry with new sanctions against russia – political analyst Ihor Chalenko
Despite Donald Trump’s regular statements about possible new sanctions or trade restrictions, the United States is not currently interested in quickly introducing new measures against russia. Political analyst and head of the Center for Analysis and Strategies Ihor Chalenko said this in an interview with OstroV.
"As of today, Trump is not interested in the rapid introduction of new sanction restrictions against russia. He is betting more on shifting the blame to Europe: like, Europe is not imposing tough sanctions and restrictions against russia and its largest energy partners – China and India. Therefore, the US will not move further. But this topic may shift closer to next month", - the expert noted.
He reminded that the European Commission is currently at the final stage of approving the 19th package of restrictions against russia, and the next, the 20th, is already being prepared.
"There it should already be about more serious steps – the EU’s complete rejection of russian energy resources. The US has also stated that it is ready to replace russian energy resources with its own products on the EU market", - Chalenko emphasized.
According to him, this will become the key direction of the West’s further policy.
"Obviously, they will move further exactly in this direction. The only question now is whether the US will be able to pressure Hungary and Slovakia regarding the rejection of russian oil and gas. We see that Szijjártó has already repeatedly stated, as well as their Minister for EU Affairs, that they respect Trump but are not going to do anything", - the political analyst explained.
At the same time, he believes that there is still a possibility of changing Budapest’s position.
"I see the possibility of changing Hungary’s position through working out a reduction of transit tariffs in Croatia. After all, there is the Adriatic route, and its technical capacities are sufficient both for Hungary’s and Slovakia’s needs. But Hungary resists its use because Croatia charges a transit tariff five times higher than the pan-European one. Accordingly, if the US pressured Croatia to lower these tariffs to the average European level, Hungary would have no argument left", - Chalenko summed up.
As previously reported, Trump’s rhetoric changed after the successes of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the attacks on moscow.