The US Senate seems to have lost patience with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The senators Richard Blumenthal (Democrat) and Lindsey Graham (Republican) have announced the preparation of a bill that would impose tariffs of 500% to countries that continue to buy Russian energysuch as oil and natural gas, to force Moscow to take peace conversations seriously.
The US Secretary of State Marco Rubioconfirmed that the country has been warning Russia for weeks about consequences that would not have to move towards a diplomatic solution. According to Rubio, the Kremlin has been informed that the Senate firmly supports this initiative.
“The end of Chinese support would stop Putin’s war as if he crashed into a wall,” Lindsey Graham said, highlighting the importance of cutting the external sources of Russian income.
The pressure has no effect
However, Washington’s pressure does not seem to have had an effect so far. Juhana AunesluomaProfessor of Political History of the University of Helsinki, which The Russians “have not changed their actions at all”.
“They think that the United States is lying. They may be right in that, “he says. AunesLuoma also doubt the will of the US president, Donald Trump, to harden his position: “He has not been excited when pressing Russia.” Although the project has the support of around 80 senators, enough to overcome a possible presidential veto, It is not clear if you will vote if Trump opposes.
The conflict could go control
AunesLuoma warns that The impact of the plan depends on whether international buyers of Russian energy comply with tariffs. Otherwise, “The whole project would be a disaster”.
For its part, If the sanctions enter into force And they hit the Russian economy, the expert sees two options about how Kremlin could react. The first is that Russia wants to start negotiating peace. The second is less flattering: “You can see it as a new step for climbing”.
“It is possible that they see that this is no longer a peace process, that the United States is using a force that had not used before, and that this justifies a large -scale war for Russia in Ukraine or even in other places. This is a possibility that the conflict will be completely controlled“, the newspaper.
Rubio himself has recently pointed out that Moscow prepares to present a High fire draft This week, although he has warned that “Russia should prepare for a decisive action of the Senate if the content of the agreement is not convincing”.
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