Russia Says Normalizing Ties with US Will Require Lifting Sanctions on Moscow 

A view shows the Moscow City business center behind the Kremlin wall in Moscow, Russia, February 24, 2025. (Reuters)
A view shows the Moscow City business center behind the Kremlin wall in Moscow, Russia, February 24, 2025. (Reuters)
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Russia Says Normalizing Ties with US Will Require Lifting Sanctions on Moscow 

A view shows the Moscow City business center behind the Kremlin wall in Moscow, Russia, February 24, 2025. (Reuters)
A view shows the Moscow City business center behind the Kremlin wall in Moscow, Russia, February 24, 2025. (Reuters)

Russia said on Tuesday that any normalization of relations with the United States would require the lifting of sanctions against Moscow. 

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was responding to a question about a Reuters report that said the United States is drawing up a plan to potentially give Russia sanctions relief as President Donald Trump seeks to restore ties with Moscow and stop the war in Ukraine. 

"It is probably too early to say anything. We have not heard any official statements, but in any case, our attitude towards sanctions is well known, we consider them illegal," Peskov said. 

"And, of course, if we talk about normalizing bilateral relations, they need to be freed from this negative burden of so-called sanctions." 

The US and other Western countries have imposed waves of sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine. 

The Reuters report quoted a US official and another person familiar with the matter as saying the White House has asked the State and Treasury departments to draft a list of sanctions that could be eased for US officials to discuss with Russian representatives in the coming days. 

The Kremlin also said the next round of Russia-US talks on ending the war in Ukraine is unlikely to happen before the embassies of both countries resume normal operations.  

"Unlikely," Peskov, the press secretary of President Vladimir Putin, told RIA state news agency in response to a question whether the negotiations could start before the two countries' embassies fully reopen. Operations have been curtailed since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.  

On Monday, Trump paused military aid to Ukraine after his clash with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy last week, deepening the fissure that has opened between the two allies.  

Before Trump began his second term as US president in January, ties between the two nuclear superpowers of Russia and the United States had plummeted to their lowest in decades following Russia's invasion.  

Trump, who has promised a quick end to the war, has upended US policy swiftly to open talks with Moscow, including calls and meetings that have alarmed Washington's European allies and Kyiv.  

At the end of February, Russia and US teams held hours of talks in Türkiye, narrowly focusing on restoring normal functioning of their embassies, and Putin said initial contacts with Trump's new administration had inspired hope.  

Last week, Russia said it was sending a new ambassador to Washington, the latest sign of a thaw between the two countries, but it remains unclear when the full work of both embassies will resume.  

Peskov also told RIA that it was too early say where the next round of talks between Russia and the United States might take place. 



Netanyahu Says he Believes Trump Can Help Seal Ceasefire Deal

FILE PHOTO: Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a statement in the central city of Rehovot, Israel June 20, 2025. JACK GUEZ/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a statement in the central city of Rehovot, Israel June 20, 2025. JACK GUEZ/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
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Netanyahu Says he Believes Trump Can Help Seal Ceasefire Deal

FILE PHOTO: Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a statement in the central city of Rehovot, Israel June 20, 2025. JACK GUEZ/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a statement in the central city of Rehovot, Israel June 20, 2025. JACK GUEZ/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he believed his discussions with US President Donald Trump on Monday would help advance talks on a Gaza hostage release and ceasefire deal that Israeli negotiators resumed in Qatar on Sunday.

Israeli negotiators taking part in the ceasefire talks have clear instructions to achieve a ceasefire agreement under conditions that Israel has accepted, Netanyahu said on Sunday before boarding his flight to Washington.

"I believe the discussion with President Trump can certainly help advance these results," he said, adding that he was determined to ensure the return of hostages held in Gaza and to remove the threat of Hamas to Israel.

It will be Netanyahu's third visit to the White House since Trump returned to power nearly six months ago.

Public pressure is mounting on Netanyahu to secure a permanent ceasefire and end the war in Gaza, a move opposed by some hardline members of his right-wing coalition. Others, including Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, have expressed support.

Palestinian group Hamas said on Friday it had responded to a US-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal in a "positive spirit", a few days after Trump said Israel had agreed "to the necessary conditions to finalize" a 60-day truce.

But in a sign of the potential challenges still facing the two sides, a Palestinian official from a militant group allied with Hamas said concerns remained over humanitarian aid, passage through the Rafah crossing in southern Israel to Egypt and clarity over a timetable for Israeli troop withdrawals.

Netanyahu's office said in a statement that changes sought by Hamas to the ceasefire proposal were "not acceptable to Israel". However, his office said the delegation would still fly to Qatar to "continue efforts to secure the return of our hostages based on the Qatari proposal that Israel agreed to".

Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a demand the militant group has so far refused to discuss.

Netanyahu said he believed he and Trump would also build on the outcome of the 12-day air war with Iran last month and seek to further ensure that Tehran never has a nuclear weapon. He said recent Middle East developments had created an opportunity to widen the circle of peace.

On Saturday evening, crowds gathered at a public square in Tel Aviv near the defense ministry headquarters to call for a ceasefire deal and the return of around 50 hostages still held in Gaza. The demonstrators waved Israeli flags, chanted and carried posters with photos of the hostages.

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Gaza's health ministry says Israel's retaliatory military assault on the enclave has killed over 57,000 Palestinians. It has also caused a hunger crisis, displaced the population, mostly within Gaza, and left the territory in ruins.

Around 20 of the remaining hostages are believed to be still alive. A majority of the original hostages have been freed through diplomatic negotiations, though the Israeli military has also recovered some.