'No self-respecting country acts under pressure': Putin hits back at new US oil sanctions

Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed Washington’s latest sanctions on Russia’s oil sector, calling them a futile attempt to strong-arm Moscow into compliance.

“No self-respecting country ever does anything under pressure,” Putin said, after the United States imposed sweeping restrictions on Rosneft and Lukoil—Russia’s largest oil producers. The sanctions were announced after the Kremlin rejected calls for an immediate ceasefire in its ongoing war with Ukraine.

Putin said he had cautioned US President Donald Trump that the sanctions could disrupt global energy markets and lead to rising oil prices worldwide. “We said very clearly that this would affect global oil prices, including the US,” he added.

The US Treasury Department said the measures were intended to “limit Russia’s ability to finance its aggression.” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the move, calling it a step that would “weaken the Kremlin’s capacity to wage war.” Russia’s foreign ministry, however, denounced the decision as “entirely counterproductive,” asserting that it would not “pose any particular problems” for the Russian economy.

Oil prices climbed sharply following the announcement, while major importers such as India reportedly began cutting back on Russian crude purchases amid fears of tighter supply.

Putin also commented on Trump’s recent decision to cancel a planned meeting between the two leaders, which was set to take place in Budapest. The Russian leader said Washington had proposed the summit but was now “postponed.”

“It would be a mistake for both me and the US president to approach this lightly and come away from this meeting without the expected result,” Putin said. Still, he emphasised the importance of continued diplomacy: “Dialogue is always better than confrontation—better than disputes, or even more so than war. That is why we have always supported the continuation of dialogue, and we continue to support it now.”