US and EU plan to discuss new Russia sanctions: What could be next for Putin?

WASHINGTON (AP) — A team of European officials, led by EU sanctions envoy David O’Sullivan, will visit the U.S. Treasury on Monday to discuss various forms of economic pressure to exert on Russia, including new sanctions, a person familiar with the meeting told The Associated Press.

The person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview the meeting, said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent spoke with the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on Friday ahead of the meeting as a follow-up to Vice President J.D. Vance’s conversation with the top European official a day earlier.

The meeting comes as President Donald Trump has grown increasingly frustrated by his inability to end the 3 1/2-year Russian war in Ukraine prompted by Moscow’s invasion. Trump has tried in vain to get Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to sit down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for direct talks aimed at ending the war despite holding a summit with the Russian leader last month in Alaska.

It also comes as a Trump-imposed deadline, set in August, for the Kremlin to end its invasion has since passed.

Officials with the White House, State Department and U.S. Trade Representative are expected to participate in Monday’s meetings. The European team includes staff focused on energy, sanctions, financial services and trade.

Since Putin’s summit with Trump, Russia launched a rare drone and missile attack on western Ukraine last month, striking an American-owned electronics plant. Trump has expressed increasing anger towards Putin but has stopped short of imposing new sanctions.

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office as he met Polish President Karol Nawrocki this week that whatever Putin decides to do “we’ll either be happy about it or unhappy. And if we’re unhappy about it, you’ll see things happen.”

And on Thursday, Trump called on European leaders to stop purchasing Russian oil that is funding the war, stressing Russia received €1.1 billion in fuel sales from the EU in one year, according to a White House official. Trump also emphasized that European leaders must place economic pressure on China for indirectly funding Russia’s war efforts, according to the official, who was not authorized to comment publicly about the private talks and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, European leaders have continued to meet independently and made a commitment to deploy a potential peacekeeping force in Ukraine, which Moscow has repeatedly described as “unacceptable.”

Putin said Friday that any foreign troops deployed to Ukraine, while Russia’s invasion is ongoing, would be considered “legitimate targets” by Moscow.

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Associated Press reporter Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.