The president of Russia, , has broken his silence after the announcement against the Kremlin. The Russian leader has warned of a hypothetical rise in the price of a barrel of crude oil to try to convince the White House that punishment for continuing with its invasion of Ukraine is a bad idea.
“This will cause a sharp increase in the price of oil and its derivatives, even at gas stations. The United States will not be an exception,” Putin has warned, clinging to the “sensitivity” of some North American sectors to a crisis and “the American political calendar.”
The United States renews part of the House of Representatives and the Senate in its midterm elections in 2026. “Russia’s contribution to the global energy balance is very significant, and disturbing it does not benefit the countries that try to do so,” the president declared.
After 10 months of praise for the White House, Putin has mildly criticized Trump’s sanctions. “No self-respecting country acts under pressure. Russia is one of them,” said the Russian president.
Putin has downplayed the impact of US restrictions on Rosneft and Lukoil. “The new sanctions will not significantly affect the country’s economic health. The Russian energy sector is in good condition, although there will be some losses,” Putin admitted hours after it became known that.
The Kremlin is trying to convince its citizens that neither US restrictions nor will seriously harm their economy. Putin even made a joke against the Europeans: “This will cost them dearly. I think they will need [los retretes] if they continue with that policy towards Russia,” Putin joked after a journalist’s question about the European veto on the import of these Russian products.
Putin has explained that the decision to postpone the Budapest summit with Trump came from the American president and he has extended his hand in exchange for relaxing sanctions: “Both countries have many areas of cooperation in common if they move from pressure to a serious dialogue in the future.”
The president has also once again marked a new red line against the West. According to Putin, if Ukraine uses long-range Tomahawk or other missiles within its territory, “the response will be very forceful, if not overwhelming.” For the Russian leader, the debate over the supply of American missiles to kyiv “represents an attempt to escalate.”
The diary The Wall Street Journal published this Wednesday that the White House transferred the authority to support long-range Ukrainian attacks from the North American Secretary of Defense, who had hindered military aid to kyiv, to the United States European Command [EUCOM].
Trump clarified that this decision does not imply any authorization to attack inside Russia. “They have said that I gave Ukraine permission to fire missiles into Russia. I did not do it,” the US president declared this Wednesday.
