US President Donald Trump has urged Turkey to stop buying oil from Russia, part of a wider drive to cut off Moscow’s energy funding as the war in Ukraine rages on.
During a brief question-and-answer session alongside Erdogan in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump said he would like Turkey to stop buying any oil from Russia while Russia continues his rampage against Ukraine. “[Moscow has] lost millions of lives already, and for what? You know, for what?” Trump said.
Trump reiterated that the Russian economy is suffering under the strain of war and described Moscow’s latest offensive as largely ineffective.
Returning to a theme of his recent public statements, Trump added that “[Russia’s] economy is absolutely terrible right now.”
So far, Turkey has chosen to maintain positive relations with both Moscow and Kyiv.
“Right now, he’s very neutral. He likes being neutral, so do I – I like being neutral. But he’s somebody that, if he got involved, the best thing he could do is not buy oil and gas from Russia,” Trump said. “If he did, if he did that, that would be probably the best thing.”
“He knows Putin, like I know Putin,” he added.
Despite his criticism of Russia, Trump spoke warmly of his relationship with Erdogan, calling it a long-standing friendship.
Trump added that he believes Erdogan is respected both by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin, meaning that he could “have a big influence” on the war “if he wants to.”
Trump is seeking to increase pressure on Moscow after failing to convince Putin to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy following an August Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska.
The US president’s comments come just weeks after he said he stood poised to impose tougher sanctions on Russia if Nato countries met conditions that included halting imports of Russian oil.
Trump has been pressing European nations to stop purchases of Russian oil in exchange for his agreement to impose tough sanctions on Moscow to try to dry up funding for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The US president wrote in a post on his social media platform Truth Social on September 13 that he is 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.”
He suggested that he’d consider additional measures against Russia but buying oil from Russia weakens the negotiating position.
Recently, Trump increased tariffs on India from 25% to 50% in an effort to penalize New Delhi for the purchase of Russian oil.
During a working visit to India, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss trade and economic cooperation between the two nations.
“Russia values its privileged strategic partnership with India, which is one of our key allies on the international stage. Our economic cooperation gains momentum every year, and in 2024, bilateral trade reached a historic high,” Dmitry Patrushev stated during the meeting.
French President Emmanuel Macron is challenging Trump’s approach to Moscow, arguing that Europe has already reduced its reliance on Russian energy.
Speaking to CBS News’ Face the Nation, the Frensh leader argued that this was a “marginal” issue, challenging Donald Trump’s calls for the NATO nations to stop buying oil from Russia.
He claimed that Europe has already reduced its consumption of Russian oil and gas by over 80 percent and is “fixing” the remaining dependence.
“This is not a key driver today. We decreased by more than 80% the consumption of oil and gas. And I can tell you, because we were not the most impacted as a country, because we were less dependent on this oil and gas coming from Russia. But we have to finalize, to finish the job,” Macron said in the interview with Margaret Brennan.
