Trump Extends Russia Sanctions Ahead of Meeting with Zelensky

By Staff, Agencies

US President Donald Trump has signed a decree extending some of anti-Russia sanctions until March 6, 2026 ahead of his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House Friday.

The decree, which is set to be published in the US Federal Register on Friday, extends the 10-year-old state of emergency over the situation in Ukraine.

The sanctions were first declared on March 6, 2014 under then-President Barack Obama in response to the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea joining Russia. The decree also extends related sanctions imposed by Obama.

Trump was about to meet the Ukrainian leader for whom he said has a "lot of respect" after recently calling him a "dictator".

Trump had appeared to blame Zelensky for the war and chided him for not starting peace talks earlier.

He has said his Friday meeting with the Ukrainian president has in store a potential “trillion-dollar deal” offering the US easy access to a bonanza of rare earth minerals.

Last week, diplomats from the two countries held the first round of US-Russia talks over Ukraine in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Russian and US officials met in Istanbul to discuss normalizing diplomatic missions, which have been severely affected by expulsions, office closures, and other restrictions in recent years.

Ties between Moscow and Washington plummeted to their lowest levels since the Cold War in 2014 after Crimea separated from Ukraine and joined Russia after a referendum.

The US and its European allies have maintained tough sanctions on Moscow and Russian officials since 2014.