Putin finally pays the price for pushing Trump too far

Russian president Vladimir Putin is attempting to overcome many seemingly impossible tasks in his drive to challenge the West and reestablish Moscow’s dominion over its former empire.

- KEIR GILES

But in at least one, he seems to have succeeded. With yesterday’s announcement by the United States that it would impose sanctions on two major Russian oil companies, Putin’s intransigence appears, finally, to have overcome the extreme reluctance of Donald Trump to use any of the enormous power of the US against Moscow.

The sanctions, levied against the energy giants Rosneft and Lukoil, effectively cut the firms off from American banking systems and financial institutions.

They follow the latest iteration of a repetitive cycle of Trump calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine, and Putin declining to cooperate. On all previous occasions, Trump's promises of consequences for Russia have turned out to be empty; and the US president's apparent frustration with Putin has meant little compared to the underlying tide of US decisions curtailing support for Ukraine and Europe.

But in this instance, the final straw may have been the promise of a meeting between Trump and Putin in Budapest, called off after it became clear that there was nothing to discuss.

The latest twist will again lead commentators to announce that Putin has “miscalculated”. But this time, finally, they may be correct. Putin has consistently played on Trump's misplaced respect and deference for him - publicly demonstrated once again after their meeting in Alaska in August, when Trump proudly displayed a photograph of the two men together supplied by the Russian side.