Russia has sent a stark and chilling warning to Donald Trump, as the US Congress prepares to vote on a new batch of sanctions against Moscow. Relations between the two Presidents appear to have nose-dived in recent days, after the Republican boss launched a withering attack on the Kremlin tyrant.
Increasingly frustrated by Putin’s stalling over a Ukraine peace deal, the US President has accused his counterpart of talking “a lot of bulls***”. Trump’s hostile turn has infuriated the Kremlin, which has unleashed its attack dogs on the White House occupant. Vladimir Solovyov – a Kremlin apparatchik – warned Trump that Russia could become America’s “most terrifying enemy” in a rant on his TV talkshow.
“Maybe Trump simply can’t grasp that Russia doesn’t care about the national interests of other countries if they contradict those of our own state?” he fumed. Warming to his subject, the Putin stooge continued: “The time when someone like Yeltsin, who randomly emerged from the dust of history, managed to proclaim in Congress that Communism was defeated and ‘God bless America and Russia’ is gone forever.”
Solovyov claimed Russia was facing a threat to its very existence and civilisation, as well as culture – demanding to know why Moscow should submit to “the wishes of the President of the United States”. Gripped by an ever growing rage, he thundered: “If you cannot treat us with respect, then instead of a worthy friend and partner, you may find yourself facing the most terrifying enemy you’ve ever known.”
In a final five-word warning to Trump, he hissed that if “350 million Americans” think they can defeat “150 million Russians, then “you clearly don’t understand Russia”.
The US President has indicated he may support a new sanctions bill proposed by his long time ally Lindsey Graham. The South Carolina Senator and his Democratic colleague Richard Blumenthal have called for a 500% tariff on goods from countries that continue to buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports.
The sanctions would primarily target countries like China and India, which account for roughly 70% of Russia’s energy trade and bankroll much of its war effort. The two senators say there is growing Congressional support for their bill and hope to get it passed before the August recess.
Both are convinced that it would give Trump the tools and flexibility he needs to force Putin to negotiate an end to the war, and believe the US President is ready to roll with it.
“We’re not gonna play whack-a-mole anymore with Russia and sanctions,” Graham told the AP press agency. “We’re going after his (Putin’s) customer base. And that’s what the Europeans, I think, are most pleased with.”