Trump says he didn’t discuss revising sanctions with Putin

U.S. President Donald Trump told the Reuters news
agency that he didn’t discuss revising U.S. sanctions against Russia in his July
meeting with Russian President Putin. In turn, Putin didn’t request any
revision in sanctions, he said in the interview published on Aug. 21. “I would
consider it if they do something that would be good for us,” Trump said. “But I
wouldn’t consider it without that. In other words, I wouldn’t consider it, even
for a moment, unless something was good.”

Trump said the two leaders discussed Crimea, though
Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov had said ahead of the meeting that the Crimean
annexation wouldn’t be discussed. “I mentioned Crimea, sure,” Trump said. “I
always mention Crimea whenever I mention Ukraine. Putin and I had a very good
discussion. I mentioned the gas pipeline going to Germany.”

Zenon Zawada: Trump has
made many statements indicating he would consider relaxing sanctions against
Russia, particularly related to Crimea. However, the Washington foreign policy
establishment won’t allow him to do that, and even his own selected advisors
like John Bolton are unlikely to allow him to make a deal on sanctions.

Trump’s ability to reach a deal on sanctions in
Crimea can only improve if nationalists gain more influence in France and
Germany. The earliest that can happen is the next round of elections, which
will be the French presidential and parliamentary elections in 2022. And that’s
only assuming Trump is re-elected. So we are confident sanctions will only be
strengthening for the next four years.