Steve RosenbergBBC Russia Editor
Sputnik/Alexander Kazakov/Pool via Reuters and Reuters
One week ago I had the distinct feeling it was Groundhog Day, or as the Russians call it, Dyen Surka.
Amid US threats to pressure Moscow – by supplying Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine – Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump held a telephone call. The result: the announcement of a US-Russia summit in Budapest.
Last August, amid threats of additional US sanctions against Russia, Putin met Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff. The result: the announcement of a US-Russia summit in Alaska.
Déjà vu.
But Groundhog Day seems to be over.
The Alaska meeting went ahead, with minimal preparation and little result.
But the Budapest summit is off. It barely had time to be “on”, to be fair. Now President Trump has cancelled it.
“It didn’t feel like we were going to get to the place we have to get,” the US president told reporters.
And that’s not all.
Previously, Trump had not followed through on threats of more pressure on Russia, preferring carrots to sticks in his dealings with the Kremlin.
For the moment he has put his carrots away.
Instead he’s imposed sanctions on two major Russian oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil.
That’s unlikely to force a U-turn on the war from President Putin. But it’s a sign of Trump’s frustration with the Kremlin’s unwillingness to make any compromise or concessions to end the fighting in Ukraine.
The Russians don’t take kindly to sticks.
On Thursday, President Putin told reporters that the new US sanctions were an “unfriendly act” and an attempt to put pressure on Russia.
“But no self-respecting country and no self-respecting people ever decide anything under pressure.”
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was
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