INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
United States President Donald Trump stepped up the pressure on Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to make a peace deal with Ukraine
Wednesday, threatening tougher economic measures if Moscow does not agree to end the war.Trump's warning in a Truth Social post came as
the Republican seeks a quick solution to a grinding conflict that he had promised to end before even starting his second term."If we don't
make a 'deal,' and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to
the United States, and various other participating countries," Trump said.Trump said he was "not looking to hurt Russia" and had "always had
a very good relationship with President Putin," a leader for whom he has expressed admiration in the past."All of that being said, I'm going
to do Russia, whose Economy is failing, and President Putin, a very big FAVOR
were President, over with! We can do it the easy way, or the hard way - and the easy way is always better
Trump's predecessor Joe Biden's administration imposed sweeping sanctions against Moscow's energy sector earlier this month.But Trump
billion over the same period in 2023, according to the United States Department of Commerce.Top United States imports from Russia include
fertilizers and precious metals.It was Trump's toughest line on Putin since he returned to the White House this week, and comes despite
fears that it was Kyiv rather than Moscow that he would strongarm into making a peace deal.During a White House press conference on Tuesday
Trump said only that it "sounds likely" that he would apply additional sanctions if Putin did not come to the table.The United States
president however declined to say whether he would continue Biden's policy of sending billions of dollars in weaponry to help
Ukraine."We're looking at that," he said at the press conference
"We're talking to [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky, we're going to be talking to President Putin very soon."Trump has also said he
Trump had vowed to end the Ukraine war "within 24 hours" and before even taking office, raising expectations he would leverage aid to force
Kyiv to make territorial concessions to Moscow.But his promised breakthrough has proved elusive.In unusually critical remarks of Putin on
Monday, Trump said the Russian president was "destroying Russia by not making a deal."Trump added that Zelensky had told him he wanted a
peace agreement to end the war.Putin congratulated Trump on his inauguration for a second term on Monday.The Russian leader added that he
was "open to dialogue" on the Ukraine conflict with Trump's incoming United States administration, adding he hoped any settlement would
ensure "lasting peace."Trump has repeatedly praised Putin, whose hyper-masculine style and professed attachment to traditional values has
increasingly found favor among some United States Christian conservatives.United States special counsel Robert Mueller and the FBI both
again the "Russia hoax."Mueller won convictions of six members of the Trump campaign but said he found no evidence of criminal cooperation
with Russia by the Trump campaign.
