INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
President Donald Trump stepped up the pressure on Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to make a peace deal with Ukraine Wednesday,
threatening tougher economic measures if Moscow does not agree to end the war.Trump's warning in a Truth Social post came as the Republican
seeks a quick solution to a grinding conflict that he had promised to end before even starting his second term."If we don't make a 'deal,'
and soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of Taxes, Tariffs, and Sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United
States, and various other participating countries," Trump said.Trump said he was "not looking to hurt Russia" and had "always had a very
good relationship with President Putin," a leader for whom he has expressed admiration in the past."All of that being said, I'm going to do
Russia, whose Economy is failing, and President Putin, a very big FAVOR
were President, over with! We can do it the easy way, or the hard way - and the easy way is always better
sanctions over the war since invading Ukraine in 2022 and trade has slowed to a trickle
billion over the same period in 2023, according to the U.S
Department of Commerce.Top U.S
imports from Russia include fertilizers and precious metals.It was Trump's toughest line on Putin since he returned to the White House this
week, and comes despite fears that it was Kyiv rather than Moscow that he would strongarm into making a peace deal.During a White House
press conference on Tuesday Trump said only that it "sounds likely" that he would apply additional sanctions if Putin did not come to the
president however declined to say whether he would continue Biden's policy of sending billions of dollars in weaponry to help Ukraine."We're
looking at that," he said at the press conference
"We're talking to [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky, we're going to be talking to President Putin very soon."Trump has also said he
Trump had vowed to end the Ukraine war "within 24 hours" and before even taking office, raising expectations he would leverage aid to force
Kyiv to make territorial concessions to Moscow.But his promised breakthrough has proved elusive.In unusually critical remarks of Putin on
Monday, Trump said the Russian president was "destroying Russia by not making a deal."Trump added that Zelensky had told him he wanted a
peace agreement to end the war.Putin congratulated Trump on his inauguration for a second term on Monday.The Russian leader added that he
was "open to dialogue" on the Ukraine conflict with Trump's incoming U.S
administration, adding he hoped any settlement would ensure "lasting peace."Trump has repeatedly praised Putin, whose hyper-masculine style
and professed attachment to traditional values has increasingly found favor among some U.S
Christian conservatives.U.S
Trump in his post on Wednesday dubbed once again the "Russia hoax."Mueller won convictions of six members of the Trump campaign but said he
found no evidence of criminal cooperation with Russia by the Trump campaign.
