Trump demands NATO action on Russian oil before any U.S. sanctions

President Donald Trump on Saturday said that he would impose major additional U.S. sanctions on Russia only after all NATO countries increased pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin by halting purchases of Russian oil.

His proposal, announced on social media, is unlikely to land with several members of the 32-country alliance. Turkey is one of Russia’s major customers and has sought to preserve ties to the Kremlin despite the war. Hungary and Slovakia, two other customers of Russian oil that are led by Trump allies, have worked to shield their economies from the disruption of finding other energy suppliers.

“I am ready to do major Sanctions on Russia when all NATO Nations have agreed, and started, to do the same thing, and when all NATO Nations STOP BUYING OIL FROM RUSSIA,” Trump wrote in a social media post on Saturday morning. He also said he wanted the bloc to impose significant tariffs on China.

He admonished NATO for not doing more to counter Russia - “the purchase of Russian Oil, by some, has been shocking!” he wrote - and he said it was weakening the bloc’s ability to persuade Putin to end the war.

“Anyway, I am ready to ‘go’ when you are,” he wrote. “Just say when?”

It was the latest return to his threats to impose sanctions on Russia after he expressed frustration with Putin’s continued aggression against Ukraine following an unusual meeting between the two that Trump hosted in Anchorage last month. Trump has taken a mercurial approach to his efforts to halt Russia’s war, sometimes blasting Putin and sometimes seeking his friendship.

But some Russia hawks in both Washington and Europe said Saturday that Trump’s latest demand felt like a tactic for him to avoid taking steps against Russia, even though they also agreed that Europe should put a final stop to buying Russian energy.

“Instead of looking for a solution, it reminds me of looking for a way out,” said former Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, who said that he supported the push for Hungary, Slovakia and Turkey to halt Russian energy imports. But Trump is friendly with the leaders of those countries, he said, and the president could push them directly without waiting to move on further U.S. sanctions.

Trump in the post also hinted at his frustration over the growing alliance between China and Russia, and the ways in which that could prolong the war, saying that the NATO alliance should target China with tariffs of 50 percent to 100 percent.

“China has a strong control, and even grip, over Russia, and these powerful Tariffs will break that grip,” he wrote. “If NATO does as I say, the WAR will end quickly, and all of those lives will be saved! If not, you are just wasting my time, and the time, energy, and money of the United States.”

It was unclear whether Trump made European tariffs on China a firm part of his demand. While many European leaders are also frustrated by China’s deepening alliance with Moscow, leveling tariffs would be complicated for the bloc, which has historically been committed to free trade.

While the Biden administration placed extensive sanctions on Russia, Trump has made Moscow one of the rare exceptions in a global tariff effort that has targeted nearly every other major economy. He has not taken major direct action against the Kremlin since taking office.

He has, however, imposed higher tariffs on India, one of Russia’s major oil buyers, saying that he wants the country to stop its purchases of Russian energy.

But his frustration has increased as Russia has only ratcheted up the intensity of its bombardment of Ukraine in the weeks since he and Putin met in Alaska.

Trump said in an interview Friday on Fox & Friends that his patience was wearing thin with Putin - “It’s sort of running out, and running out fast.”

“We’re going to have to come down very, very strong,” he said.

Russia has been able to fund its war effort for years in part by selling oil and natural gas to foreign buyers, and choking off that cash flow would be tough for the Kremlin.

The United States never had the extensive economic relations with Russia that Europe did, limiting the leverage of some types of sanctions. But Washington’s dominance over the global banking system and the fact that many countries hold their reserves in U.S. dollars still gives it extensive power.

Trump has long expressed frustration about Europe’s continued requests for help to deal with the Kremlin while continuing to buy Russian energy exports. During his first term, he blasted Germany for deepening its energy dependence on Russian natural gas at the same time NATO asked for U.S. help to bolster defenses at its borders with Russia.

The European Union, however, has imposed far-reaching sanctions on the Kremlin and drastically reduced trade and energy ties since 2022. After the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Germany and nearly all the rest of Europe stopped buying Russian energy. But a handful of countries kept doing it, arguing that it would be economically devastating to their citizens and that they had few good alternatives.

Hungary and Slovakia are the main European buyers of Russian oil and natural gas now, with a handful of other countries promising to stop their remaining purchases. And Turkey, a NATO member but not a party to E.U. sanctions against Russia, has continued large-scale purchases.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is the most Russia-friendly leader in the E.U., and he has consistently used his veto power to dilute or slow European measures against Russia in the years since the full-scale invasion. He is also a Trump ally.

Turkey occupies another category from the European members of NATO, with a different historical relationship with Russia and a different evaluation of its security concerns. Ankara has offered Ukraine military assistance since 2022, but it never imposed sanctions on Russia and has become a major purchaser of Russian oil. Changing that dynamic would require a major diplomatic initiative on Trump’s part.

European policymakers have been frustrated in recent days by Trump’s seeming unwillingness to engage deeply on what many of them view as a major security breach by Moscow on Wednesday, as 19 Russian drones flew deep into Polish territory and some were shot down by NATO military assets. The episode was the first time NATO has shot down Russian military hardware in NATO airspace.

Trump didn’t condemn Russia’s violation of NATO airspace, writing on Truth Social, “What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones? Here we go!”

He downplayed the violation during his Friday interview by noting that the drones didn’t end up doing much damage.

“I mean, I’m not going to defend anybody, but the Poland’s - they were actually knocked down and they fell into an area,” he said. “But [Putin] shouldn’t be close to Poland anyway.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday that the United States was still “gathering” information on the incident but underscored that it was an “unacceptable and unfortunate and dangerous development.”

He said Washington was still determining whether the incursion into Poland was intentional.

“If the evidence leads us there, then obviously that’ll be a highly escalatory move,” Rubio told reporters before departing on a two-country trip to Israel and Britain. “There are a number of other possibilities as well, but I think we’d like to have all the facts and consult with our allies before we make specific determinations.”

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Catherine Belton in London and Adam Taylor and John Hudson in Washington contributed to this report.