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Trump Administration Ends Interagency Group Targeting Russia Policy, Reuters Reports
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![Photo of Dariia Mykhailenko]( "Photo of Dariia Mykhailenko")
The administration of Donald Trump has effectively halted the work of an interagency group established to develop strategies for pressuring Russia in an effort to accelerate peace talks with Ukraine.
This was reported by Reuters on June 17, citing the US officials.
According to the officials, the initiative—launched earlier in the spring—lost momentum in May as it became increasingly clear to participants that US President Donald Trump was not interested in adopting a more confrontational stance toward Moscow.
Despite his campaign promises to end the war in Ukraine on the first day of his presidency, Trump has grown increasingly frustrated in recent months over the lack of progress. He has reportedly begun suggesting that the United States might withdraw entirely from its efforts to mediate a peace settlement.
Given this shift, the working group's mission appeared increasingly irrelevant, said the officials, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations.
“It lost steam toward the end because the president wasn't there. Instead of doing more, maybe he wanted to do less,” one official said.
According to Reuters, the quiet collapse of the group—whose existence had not been previously reported—is likely to raise concerns among European allies about Trump’s at times conciliatory tone toward Russia and his reluctance to express full support for Ukraine ahead of a key NATO summit later this month.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump announced a delay in the implementation of new sanctions against Russia, citing the potential for a negotiated settlement to end the war in Ukraine.
Speaking at the G7 summit in Canada on June 16, Trump was asked whether the United States supports Europe’s push for additional sanctions on Moscow. “Well, Europe is saying that, but they haven’t done it yet,” he responded.
