Putin breaks silence over ‘unfriendly act’ in chilling warning to Trump

Vladimir Putin has broken his silence over Donald Trump’s sanctions against Russia^[1] with a chilling warning to the US President.

Mr Trump levelled sanctions against Russia’s two largest oil companies on Wednesday evening in a bid to pressure Moscow into making peace with Ukraine^[2]. The President, who appeared to warm towards the country following a call with Putin earlier this week, said that, while it was “good” they had failed to make significant progress.

Today, Putin responded with a chilling statement delivered at the Russian Geographical Society in Moscow, in which he warned that dialogue is “better than war”.

Putin told Russian journalists: “Dialogue is always better than confrontation or any disputes, and especially war. We have always supported the continuation of dialogue.”

The response came after Mr Trump declared on Wednesday that his conversations with the Russian premier “don’t go anywhere” despite being good natured.

He said: “Every time I speak to Vladimir, I have good conversations and then they don’t go anywhere.”

The move to introduce new sanctions on Russia is the latest development in Mr Trump’s whiplash-inducing approach to Putin, whose intervention during a call on Tuesday dashed Ukrainian hopes that the US would aid them with an order of Tomahawk missiles.

In the same speech, Putin warned that Russia would respond to any attacks from Ukraine “very strongly” if the missiles – highly advanced munitions developed in the US – were used.

He warned the response from his country would be “very strong, if not overwhelming”. He added: “Let them think about it.”

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