President Donald Trump explained his decision to slap a new round of sanctions against Russia during a press conference in the Oval Office on Wednesday.
Trump took questions from reporters while meeting with Mark Rutte, secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. One reporter asked him about the Treasury Department's announcement that it had approved sanctions on two Russian state-owned oil companies, Open Joint Stock Company Rosneft Oil Company and Lukoil OAO.
"I just felt it was time," Trump said. "We've waited a long time. I thought that we'd go long before the Middle East."
Trump then boasted of all the conflicts he's helped end.
“Given President Putin’s refusal to end this senseless war, Treasury is sanctioning Russia’s two largest oil companies that fund the Kremlin’s war machine. Treasury is prepared to take further action if necessary to support President Trump’s effort to end yet another war. We encourage our allies to join us in and adhere to these sanctions," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.
During the news conference, Trump said he also canceled a planned Budapest summit between himself and Putin, telling reporters, “It just didn’t feel right to me. It didn’t feel like we were going to get to the place we have to get, so I canceled it.”