The Kremlin said on Tuesday that it had “taken note” of an announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump that he was shortening his deadline for Moscow to enroll to a ceasefire in Ukraine or face sanctions.
Trump set a brand new deadline on Monday of 10 or 12 days for Russia to make progress toward ending the war in Ukraine or face consequences, underscoring frustration with President Vladimir Putin over the 3-1/2-year-old conflict.
Asked about Trump’s statement on Tuesday during a conference call with reporters, the Kremlin kept its remarks short.
“We’ve got taken note of President Trump’s statement yesterday. The special military operation continues,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, employing the term that Moscow uses for its war effort in Ukraine.
Get day by day National news
Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
“We remain committed to a peace process to resolve the conflict around Ukraine and to make sure our interests in the middle of this settlement.”
Trump threatened on July 14 to impose latest sanctions on Russia and buyers of its exports inside 50 days, a deadline which might have expired in early September.
But on Monday, during a visit to Britain, he shortened that deadline and said:
“There’s no reason in waiting… We just don’t see any progress being made.”
Trump, who has held half a dozen calls with the Kremlin leader since returning to the White House in January, also said he was “not so interested by talking any more.”
Peskov declined to comment on that remark.
–Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; Writing by Mark Trevelyan and Anastasia TeterevlevaEditing by Andrew Osborn