US President Donald Trump's threat to impose tariffs on Russian oil exports in the absence of an agreement to end the conflict in Ukraine is probably related to the criticism that the American leader is being subjected to because of his relations with Moscow.
This was stated by Andrei Klimov, deputy chairman of the Federation Council's international affairs committee.
"I think Trump is not saying this to us, but to his opponents in the US and in other NATO countries. He is being subjected to quite sharp criticism for some rapprochement with Russia. But no one has yet spoken about rapprochement. We are talking about normalizing relations between the two superpowers," Klimov noted.
“Despite the sanctions, our gold and foreign exchange reserves have reached another maximum in the entire history of modern Russia. In addition, our successes on the front line are very convincing“, he added.
Earlier, Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Russian oil exports in the absence of an agreement to end the conflict in Ukraine. According to the American president, tariffs of 25 to 50 percent could be introduced. He threatened to impose tariffs on other goods sold in the United States.
At the same time, Trump stressed that he has a “very good relationship“ with Russian President Vladimir Putin and that the anger would quickly dissipate if his Russian counterpart did “the right thing”.