Trump threatens Moscow with tariffs if peace deal not reached; Russia poses security threat - EU’s Kallas

Russia posed an existential threat to the European Union’s (EU’s) security and the only way to address that was to increase spending on defence, said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Wednesday, adding that the EU had for too long offered Russia alternatives.

Britain said it had monitored a Russian spy ship in the English Channel in recent days and would strengthen its response to secret operations by Russian ships and aircraft in an effort to protect undersea cables. 

Trump threatens Russia with tariffs if Ukraine deal not reached

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would add new tariffs to his sanctions threat against Russia if the country does not make a deal to end its war in Ukraine, and added that these also could be applied to “other participating countries”.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump modified comments he made on Tuesday that he would probably impose sanctions against Russia if President Vladimir Putin refused to negotiate an end to the nearly three-year conflict.

“If we don’t make a ‘deal,’ and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States, and various other participating countries,” said Trump.

Trump’s post did not identify the countries that he considered participants in the conflict, or how he defined participation.

The Biden administration had already heaped heavy sanctions on thousands of entities in Russia’s banking, defence, manufacturing, energy, technology and other sectors since the conflict began in February 2022.

Earlier this month, the US Treasury hit Russia’s energy revenues with its hardest sanctions yet, targeting oil and gas producers Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas, as well as 183 vessels that are part of the so-called dark fleet of tankers aimed at evading other Western trade curbs.

Trump has sought to use the threat of tariffs to achieve non-trade goals, including threatening Mexico, Canada and China with duties to push them to stop illegal migration and the flow of the deadly opioid fentanyl into the United States.

Those three countries are the top US trading partners. But Russia is far down the list, with US imports from Russia falling to just $2.9-billion through the first 11 months of 2024 from $29.6-billion in 2021.

The US stopped importing Russian oil after its invasion, but still imports some precious metals, including palladium used in automotive catalytic converters.

As for other participants, the Biden administration had imposed sanctions against entities in China, North Korea and Iran for aiding Russia’s war effort.

Trump said he was “going to do Russia, whose Economy is failing, and President Putin, a very big FAVOR. Settle now, and STOP this ridiculous War!”

Russia poses existential threat to EU security, says foreign policy chief

Russia posed an existential threat to the European Union’s (EU’s) security and the only way to address that was to increase spending on defence, said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Wednesday, adding that the EU had for too long offered Russia alternatives.

“Russia poses an existential threat to our security today, tomorrow and for as long as we underinvest in our defence,” she said during a speech at the annual conference of the European Defence Agency.

“People say I’m a ‘Russia hawk’. I think I’m simply realistic about Russia,” said Kallas.

Kallas, one of the EU’s most vocal opponents toPutin, also acknowledged  Trump was right in saying that EU members don’t spend enough on defence.

Trump said earlier this month Nato members should spend 5% of gross domestic product on defence — a huge increase from the current 2% goal and a level that no Nato country, including the US, currently reaches.

“Time is not on Russia’s side. But it’s not necessarily on ours either. Because we are not yet doing enough. There should be no doubt in any of our minds that we must spend more to prevent war. But we also need to prepare for war,” said Kallas.

UK monitors Russian spy ship, steps up undersea cable protection

Britain said it had monitored a Russian spy ship in the English Channel in recent days and would strengthen its response to secret operations by Russian ships and aircraft in an effort to protect undersea cables.

Defence minister John Healey said Yantar, a Russian spy vessel used for intelligence and mapping critical infrastructure on the sea floor, entered British waters on Monday and the Royal Navy tracked it for two days until it entered Dutch waters.

Worries over the potential sabotage of power cables, telecom links and gas pipelines have been growing after a string of outages in the Baltic Sea following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

“We will not shy away from robust action to protect Britain,” said Healey on Wednesday.

“We are strengthening our response to ensure that Russian ships and aircraft cannot operate in secrecy near UK or Nato territory.”

Britain decided to send maritime patrol and surveillance aircraft to help Nato’s efforts to protect cables in the Baltic Sea, Healey announced, adding that it would also deploy an advanced AI system to help safeguard undersea infrastructure.

Healey said Yantar had already been caught in British waters in November when it loitered over cables.

He told parliament that given Yantar’s activities he had changed the rules of engagement in order to allow Royal Navy ships to get closer and better track it, and he had also authorised the surfacing of a Royal Navy submarine close to Yantar as a deterrent measure.

Russia sees small window of opportunity to do deals with Trump, says diplomat

Russia saw a small window of opportunity to do deals with Trump but Moscow was making preparations for Putin’s future discussions with the new US president, said Russia’s diplomat overseeing US relations on Wednesday.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, who oversees US relations and arms control, told the pre-eminent Russian think tank on US and Canadian affairs that the window of opportunity existed but that it was small.

“Compared to the hopelessness in every aspect of the previous White House chief [President Joe Biden], there is a window of opportunity today, albeit a small one,” Ryabkov told the Institute for US and Canadian Studies in Moscow.

“It’s therefore important to understand with what and whom we will have to deal, how best to build relations with Washington, how best to maximise opportunities and minimise risks,” Ryabkov was quoted as saying by Interfax.

Putin has repeatedly said that he is ready to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine but that Russia’s current control of 20% of Ukrainian territory will have to be accepted and that Ukraine must remain neutral.

Ryabkov was later quoted by the Tass state news agency as saying that Russia was making preparations for contacts between Putin and Trump but that nothing has been agreed upon yet.

"Probably when we hear something more clear and concrete from Washington, then we’ll get down to coordinating schedules and organisational points," said Ryabkov. DM