EU, Britain go ahead with new Russia sanctions without waiting for Trump

LONDON: The European Union (EU) and Britain announced new sanctions against Russia on Tuesday (May 20) without waiting for the United States to join them, a day after President Donald Trump spoke to Vladimir Putin without winning a promise for a ceasefire in Ukraine.

London and Brussels said their new measures would zero in on Moscow's "shadow fleet" of oil tankers and financial companies that have helped it avoid the impact of other sanctions imposed over the war.

"Sanctions matter, and I am grateful to everyone who makes them more tangible for the perpetrators of the war," Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.

But the new measures were unveiled without an immediate announcement of corresponding steps from Washington, despite intense public lobbying from leaders of European countries for the Trump administration to join them.

"We have repeatedly made it clear that we expect one thing from Russia - an immediate ceasefire without preconditions," German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on the sidelines of a meeting with his EU counterparts in Brussels.

As Russia had not accepted a ceasefire, "we will have to react," he said.

"We also expect our U.S. allies not to tolerate this."

Russia and Ukraine held their first direct talks in more than three years on Friday at Trump's behest, but failed to agree a truce after Moscow presented conditions that a member of the Ukrainian delegation called "non-starters".

Ukraine says it is ready for an immediate ceasefire proposed by Trump, while Russia says it wants talks first. The Europeans say this is proof that Putin, who started the war by invading his neighbour in 2022, is not prepared to end it.

"Putin is clearly playing for time, unfortunately, we have to say Putin is not really interested in peace," Germany's Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said.

"BALL IN KYIV'S COURT"

Reacting to the new sanctions, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters that Russia would never bow to what she called ultimatums.

Putin, after his call with Trump, said that Moscow was ready to work with Ukraine on a memorandum about a future peace accord.

"Now, accordingly, the ball is in Kyiv's court," Zakharova said.

Europeans have been working hard in public to persuade the Trump administration to join them in imposing sanctions. The leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Poland jointly travelled to Kyiv earlier this month and were filmed speaking to Trump on speakerphone with Zelenskiy.

Several European leaders phoned Trump again on the eve of Monday's call with Putin, urging him to join them in imposing new sanctions if Russia rejected a ceasefire.

Brussels and London both suggested that more sanctions could still follow, making clear they have not given up hope of persuading Washington to act.

"Let us push Vladimir Putin to put an end to his imperialist fantasy," France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said.

Britain's Foreign Minister David Lammy said, "delaying peace efforts will only redouble our resolve to help Ukraine to defend itself and use our sanctions to restrict Putin’s war machine".

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said more sanctions were "in the works". But she made clear that action was needed from the US.

"We all agreed and said ... that if they don't agree to an unconditional ceasefire, like Ukraine has agreed over 60 days ago, there will be strong action," Kallas said.

"And that is what we want to see from all the parties who have said that they will act in accordance."

The latest sanctions are aimed mainly at cracking down on a shipping fleet that Russia uses to export oil, circumventing a US$60 a barrel price cap imposed by the G7 group of industrialised countries to limit Russia's income.

Britain and the EU said they would also work to lower the cap, which imposes far less of a discount on Russian oil now that global prices have fallen this year.

Trump said on Monday that Russia and Ukraine were ready to start negotiations. Putin said the process would take time.