But no new Russia sanctions: Trump does not want to punish Putin – and complains instead about Zelensky: "Not a big fan of him"

But no new Russia sanctions: Trump does not want to punish Putin – and complains instead about Zelensky: "Not a big fan of him" In the White House, the wind has turned against the Ukrainian president again. But even among the Republicans, there is growing resistance against the US president. As often happens when it comes to Russia, Donald Trump has thought differently again. On Friday evening, the American president announced that the new sanctions he imposed against the Putin regime exactly one month ago would not come into force. He is therefore stalling. As early as summer 2025, he had threatened Russia with "very hard tariffs" if it did not agree to peace in Ukraine. But instead of making hard measures, he rolled out the red carpet for the Russian president in Alaska at that time. Looking back, one could have assumed that the new sanctions package would not be worth the paper it was written on. Perhaps the American president never seriously thought about implementing the punitive measures. Because he had not only exploited far-reaching veto rights. The president also showed no great enthusiasm for the undertaking. The White House issued only a dry press release when adopting the sanctions package on September 18. Trump resisted the law Only in his speech to the United Nations on September 22 did Trump praise himself for "a powerful new law" that he had signed in honor of the late Senator Lindsey Graham. But before that, he had strongly objected to it. Graham, the Russian falcon, had introduced the draft in April 2025 to the Senate along with his Democratic colleague Richard Blumenthal. While the initiative immediately found bipartisan support, the White House, however, stood in opposition. Months of wrangling ensued. The president apparently felt his freedom of foreign policy action was threatened. He is said to have been pushed for a "waiver," meaning that he could suspend the sanctions at his own discretion at any time. Because he probably remembered 2017. At that time, Congress had forced him to sign a tough, watertight sanctions law against Russia: the Caatsa Act (Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act) left Trump no choice. The president, who had taken office in his first term, was dismayed by the good relations he sought to establish with Vladimir Putin. This should not happen to him again. Just a sanctions pause? In the directive to suspend the new sanctions, the White House now asserted "national interests." What these interests are, the Trump administration did not explain. But it is clear that the president is interested in lowering the gasoline prices, which have risen due to the war in Iran, before the midterm elections on November 3. For this purpose, he had already announced a diesel agreement with Russia the Friday before. The sanctions were merely paused for sixty days, said Marco Rubio. In an rather earnest attempt to justify his president's measure, the American Secretary of State spoke of wanting to "analyze" what the effects of sanctions and tariffs would be on the world economy and also on the American economy. However, it is hardly about a political situation analysis. With the retreat on sanctions, the wind in Washington seems to have turned fully against the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. "I think Zelensky is more difficult to deal with than Putin," Trump said in an interview with the television station Newsmax on Thursday. Because the Ukrainian president only pretends to want to end the war. "No, I am not a big fan of Zelensky." Recently, the American president has also openly demanded Zelensky's removal. Since their disastrous meeting eighteen months ago, when Trump humiliated the Ukrainian in the Oval Office on live camera, the animosities have not emerged so openly. On the other hand, Zelensky also does not seem to believe that the relationship can be mended. So he expressed his consternation about the imposed sanctions on various channels. Putin would be "only encouraged to keep attacking," he wrote on X. "In a time when the Russians have carried out such a massive attack on our energy sector, it was unfortunately decided in America to completely ignore the Lindsey-Graham Act," cited CNN from the Ukrainian president. "This law could have helped enormously – and can still! But it must also work, and every vote that supports it counts." Criticism also from Republicans Such voices exist in abundance. American members of Congress criticized the suspension of the sanctions, including many Republicans. Texas Senator Ted Cruz spoke to Fox News about a "mistake": "I wish the president hadn't done that." Darlene Graham, who followed her late brother in the Senate, also expressed her incomprehension. "I personally would maintain the pressure on Russia," she told reporters. "Because I do not trust Putin, and I do not trust Russia." Nikki Haley, Trump's former ambassador to the United Nations, even wrote on X about a "historic" misjudgment. "It is a devastating miscalculation by Putin, who has made it clear that he wants to destroy the West. We should not help him in that."