On October 23, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with the media that the U.S. imposition of new sanctions on Russia was intended to put pressure on Russia, but would not have a significant impact on the Russian economy.
Putin said the new U.S. sanctions were clearly an unfriendly move and did not contribute to strengthening the newly restored Russian-US relations, stressing that Russia has always supported the continuation of dialogue, while believing that if Russia and the U.S. "can engage in serious discussions on the long-term future, including in the economic sphere, the two sides will have room for cooperation in many areas."
Regarding the latest remarks of U.S. President Trump about the meeting of U.S. Russian leaders, Putin said that when he talked to Trump on the 16th, it was Trump himself who proposed to hold a meeting, and the location in Budapest, Hungary's capital, was also Trump's proposal.
Putin said that given the current situation, the U.S. president decided to cancel or postpone the meeting, more precisely, Trump said it was postponing the meeting. Putin reiterated that dialogue is always better than any form of confrontation, and far better than war.
In response to Ukrainian President Zelensky’s remarks about Ukraine’s possible acquisition of 3,000-kilometre-range weapons, Putin said it was an attempt to escalate the situation, and if such weapons were used to strike Russian territory, Russia’s response would be very harsh, “they” should think clearly about it.
The U.S. Treasury Department announced on 22nd that it would impose sanctions on Russia’s two largest oil companies, Russian Petroleum Corporation, Lukas Petroleum and its subsidiaries. On the same day, Trump confirmed that he had cancelled plans for a recent meeting with U.S.-Russian leaders because the current meeting would not yield results.