US Inching Closer to New Russia Sanctions, Trump Envoy Says

President Donald Trump is getting closer to ramping up financial sanctions pressure against Russia for its failure to agree to a peace deal with Ukraine, said Keith Kellogg, the president’s special envoy for Ukraine.

In response to a moderator at an event last week saying that it seems Trump is ready to strengthen sanctions against Russia, Kellogg said, “I think you’re right.” Options include more sanctions against Russia’s shadow fleet of vessels moving oil and more restrictions against Russia’s financial sector, he added.

“I take President Trump at his word, and President Trump has made the comments that he's getting — I'd say my word is exasperated,” Kellogg said during the Yalta European Strategy conference last week in Kyiv. “And I think one thing I would advise, if I was advising anybody on working with President Trump: Do not put him in a position that he thinks he's being used. That is probably the worst place you can be with him. And I think what you’re seeing now is somebody who's kind of playing a game with him,” Kellogg said, referencing Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump has threatened to impose new Russia sanctions and Russia-related secondary tariffs multiple times since taking office in January (see 2509030033), and lawmakers have urged the administration to move forward with those measures (see 2509120030 and 2509100059). Kellogg said he believes it’s time for both the U.S. and its allies to impose new sanctions and strengthen existing ones.

“You've got to apply absolute economic pressure, and this means you’ve got to put some risk into the game,” he said. He called on Europe to end all purchases of Russian oil and suggested that more countries should consider intercepting ships that are violating Russia oil sanctions. He pointed to Estonia, which earlier this year tried to stop a sanctioned Russia-bound oil tanker in international waters in the Baltic Sea between Estonia and Finland. The vessel reportedly refused to stop, and Estonia’s navy escorted it to Russian waters.

“That's got to be done. If you bottle up the Baltic Sea, you shut down 70% of their traffic,” Kellogg said.

He added that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently told him that sanctions pressure against Russia is at a six out of 10, with 10 being the most pressure, although enforcement is at a three. “You've got to enforce the sanctions,” Kellogg said. “What that does, though, is that raises your risk level. Everybody has got to be willing to go and raise the risk level.”

He also suggested that the U.S. and its allies do more to seize Russian assets. “We talked about sovereign Russian assets,” Kellogg said. "You're going to have to make a hard call. That's really oligarchs’ money. Take their money.”