Trump was offered three options for sanctions against russia, he chose moderate restrictions - WSJ

The new US sanctions against the aggressor country of russia were one of three options for restrictions that American officials offered to President Donald Trump. He chose the moderate option of sanctions.

The American publication The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported this with reference to its own sources.

Unnamed White House officials said that Trump had previously been presented with three options for sanctions against russia. The most severe one envisaged sanctions against industry and senior management, the moderate one - on the russian energy sector and the soft option - limited restrictions on Moscow. He chose the option with medium sanctions, their preparation took several months.

A senior White House official told the WSJ that Trump still seeks to end the russian-Ukrainian war and continues to seek a peaceful solution. He believed that the settlement of the conflict between Israel and Hamas had created momentum for ending the war in Ukraine, but this continues to be hindered by the stubbornness of russian dictator vladimir putin.

The publication writes that just a few hours after the US canceled the planned meeting between Trump and putin in Budapest, the russian army launched new strikes on Ukraine. The attack damaged, among other things, a kindergarten.

"Trump did not comment directly on the strikes, but was outraged by such aggressive actions, even at a time when he felt that he had made progress in relations with putin," the WSJ source said.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, last Wednesday, October 22, the US Department of the Treasury announced the introduction of new sanctions against russia. These are the first restrictions that Washington has imposed on Moscow since the beginning of Trump's presidency.

As a reminder, the White House later explained that Trump decided to impose sanctions due to the lack of real steps towards ending the war on the part of russia.