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Washington: US President Donald Trump has promised “very severe consequences” on Russia if its President Vladimir Putin doesn’t agree to end his war in Ukraine during the two leaders’ meeting in Alaska on Friday.

“There will be consequences,” Trump just said during an event at the Kennedy Center in Washington, reports CNN.

Asked if that meant new sanctions or tariffs, Trump objected.

“I don’t have to say,” he said, adding only: “There will be very severe consequences.”

Notably, Trump had previously threatened new sanctions on Moscow as punishment for the Ukraine war, setting last Friday as a deadline to impose them unless Putin came to the negotiating table.

That deadline came and went without new sanctions, which could have limited effect given low levels of trade between the US and Russia.

Trump has also threatened secondary sanctions on countries that purchase Russian energy. While he imposed new levies on India, the number-two purchaser of Russian oil, he stopped short of slapping the new duties on India’s largest customer, China.

Meanwhile, European leaders urged Trump not to strike a unilateral Ukraine peace deal, with French President Emmanuel Macron saying that Trump told them during a virtual meeting that territorial issues will not be negotiated by anyone but Ukraine’s president.

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