Donald Trump has expressed a general aversion to economic sanctions. Nonetheless, the U.S. president has suggested he may consider employing this tactic to bring his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to the negotiation table in pursuit of a resolution regarding Ukraine. As the two leaders prepare for their upcoming meeting, it remains to be seen if Trump will ease or completely eliminate the sanctions that Washington and its Western allies have enforced since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, which were further intensified following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Such actions could potentially bolster the Russian economy and strengthen its military, complicating strategic dynamics for Europe.
