Putin deplores US sanctions as 'unfriendly' while EU joins in heaping
restrictions on Russia
[October 24, 2025]
By LORNE COOK
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union on Thursday heaped more economic
sanctions on Russia, adding to U.S. President Donald Trump’s new
punitive measures the previous day against the Russian oil industry.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called Washington's move an “unfriendly
act” that could backfire by spiking global oil prices.
The American and European sanctions are intended as part of a broadened
effort to choke off the revenue and supplies that fuel Moscow’s invasion
of Ukraine, compelling Putin to negotiate an end to the war.
Speaking to reporters in Moscow, Putin acknowledged that the “serious”
U.S. sanctions will have “certain consequences” for Russia, but
maintained that they will not significantly impact its economy.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has long campaigned for the
international community to punish Russia more comprehensively for
attacking his country, hailed the new restrictions.
“We waited for this. God bless, it will work. And this is very
important,” Zelenskyy said in Brussels, where EU countries attending a
summit announced the latest round of Russia sanctions.
Despite U.S.-led peace efforts in recent months, the war shows no sign
of ending after nearly four years, and European leaders are increasingly
concerned about the threat from Russia.
Ukrainian forces have struggled to stem slow but steady advances by
Russia’s bigger army along a roughly 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front
line that snakes along eastern and southern Ukraine. Almost daily
Russian long-range strikes have taken aim at Ukraine’s power grid before
the bitter winter, while Ukrainian forces have targeted Russian oil
refineries and manufacturing plants.
Targeted sanctions
Energy revenue is the linchpin of Russia’s economy, allowing Putin to
pour money into the armed forces without worsening inflation and
avoiding a currency collapse.
International crude prices jumped more than $2 per barrel Thursday on
news of the new U.S. sanctions against Russia's oil giants Rosneft and
Lukoil.
Putin said he warned Trump that an attempt to curb Russian oil exports
will destabilize global oil markets and backfire against the United
States. “A sharp reduction in the amounts of our oil and oil products
sent to global markets will lead to price increases,” he said, adding
that consumers at U.S. gas stations will feel the impact.
The sanctions don’t take effect for almost a month, until Nov. 21,
potentially giving Putin a chance for a change of heart.
Chris Weafer, CEO of the Macro-Advisory Ltd. consultancy, said “that’s a
window where they hope Russia will more seriously engage, and if it
does, then those sanctions could be suspended.”
“You can be sure that every oil buyer in Asia today is trying to find
anything that floats that they can buy Russian oil before that sanction
kicks in,” Weafer told The Associated Press from London. “And therefore,
Russia will sell a lot of oil in the next 30 days, which probably will
help the budget for a few months.”
He also noted that, unlike the European sanctions, the U.S. measures
carry the threat of secondary penalties against anyone violating them.
China and India are major importers of Russian oil.
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Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, and European Council
President Antonio Costa arrive for an EU Summit at the European
Council building in Brussels, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. (AP
Photo/Harry Nakos)
The effectiveness of economic sanctions in forcing Putin’s hand is
questionable, analysts say. Russia’s economy has proved resilient so
far, although it is showing signs of strain.
The new EU measures also target Russian oil and gas. They ban
imports of Russian liquefied natural gas into the bloc, and add port
bans on more than 100 new ships in the Russian shadow fleet of
hundreds of aging tankers that are dodging sanctions. The latest
sanctions bring the total number of such ships to be banned to 557.
The measures also target transactions with a cryptocurrency
increasingly used by Russia to circumvent sanctions; prohibit
operations in the bloc using Russian payment cards and systems;
restrict the provision of artificial intelligence services and
high-performance computing services to Russian entities; and widen
an export ban to include electronic components, chemicals and metals
used in military manufacturing.
A new system for limiting the movement of Russian diplomats within
the 27-nation EU will also be introduced.
Trump-Putin dynamics
The U.S. sanctions came after Trump said that his plan for a swift
meeting with Putin in Budapest was on hold because he didn’t want it
to be a “waste of time.” It was the latest twist in Trump’s
hot-and-cold efforts to end the war as Putin refuses to budge from
his demands.
Putin deplored the U.S. sanctions as an “unfriendly act” that would
damage relations with Washington and said that Moscow wouldn't yield
to pressure.
“Such action by the U.S. administration certainly damage Russia—U.S.
relations,” he said. “It’s an attempt to exert pressure on Russia,
but no self-respecting country and self-respecting people make any
decisions under pressure."
The Russian leader warned that any attempt by Ukraine to strike deep
inside Russia with longer-range weapons supplied by the West will
mark an escalation and trigger a “very serious not to say stunning”
response from Russia. “Let them think about it,” he said.
Commenting on Trump's decision to put the planned summit on hold,
Putin emphasized that it was the U.S. that proposed holding it and
added that it should be well prepared.
“It would be a mistake for me and the U.S. president to take it
lightly and come out after the meeting without an expected result,”
he said. “A dialogue is always better than confrontation.”
In a separate development, a Russian drone killed two Ukrainian
journalists in the Donetsk region Thursday, according to regional
administration head Vadym Filashkin. The journalists, Olena Hubanova
and Ievhen Karmazin, worked for Ukraine’s Freedom TV channel in
Ukraine.
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Harriet Morris in Tallinn, Estonia, and Illia Novikov in Kyiv,
Ukraine, contributed to this report.
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