 "'Might hit you very hard': Rutte warns Brazil, China, and India of harsh sanctions over Russia ties")
Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte on Wednesday warned that countries like Brazil, China, and India risk facing severe secondary sanctions if they continue economic ties with Russia.
Rutte issued the warning during a meeting with US senators, a day after President Donald Trump announced new weapons for Ukraine and threatened to impose “biting” 100% secondary tariffs on buyers of Russian exports unless a peace agreement is reached within 50 days.
“My encouragement to these three countries, particularly is, if you live now in Beijing, or in Delhi, or you are the president of Brazil, you might want to take a look into this, because this might hit you very hard,” Reuters quoted Rutte as saying to reporters, who met with Trump on Monday and agreed the new steps.
“So please make the phone call to Vladimir Putin and tell him that he has to get serious about peace talks, because otherwise this will slam back on Brazil, on India and on China in a massive way,” Rutte added.
Republican US Senator Thom Tillis praised Trump for taking action but expressed concern over the 50-day timeline, saying it “worries” him.
He warned that the delay could give Putin an opportunity to escalate the war, potentially gaining more territory or committing further atrocities to strengthen his position ahead of any peace negotiations.
“So we should look at the current state of Ukraine today and say, no matter what you do over the next 50 days, any of your gains are off the table,” he was quoted as saying.
Rutte said Europe would secure the necessary funding to ensure Ukraine enters any peace talks from a position of strength.
Under the new agreement with Trump, he added, the US would begin “massive” arms deliveries to Ukraine — including air defense systems, missiles, and ammunition — with the costs covered by European nations.
Asked if long-range missiles for Ukraine were under discussion, Rutte said: “It is both defensive and offensive. So there’s all kinds of weapons, but we have not discussed in detail yesterday with the president. This is really being worked through now by the Pentagon, by the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, together with the Ukrainians.”
With inputs from agencies
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