Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News in an exclusive interview that “all options are on the table” as the Trump administration weighs sanctions on Russia after President Vladimir Putin continued to bombard Ukraine despite recent talks about peace.
Bessent spoke with Senior National Correspondent Rich Edson at Martin’s Tavern in Washington, D.C., responding to a question about potential sanctions on Russia.
“I think everything’s on the table,” Bessent said. “President Putin, since the historic meeting in Anchorage, since the phone call, when the European leaders and President Zelensky were at the White House the following Monday, has done the opposite of following through on what he indicated he wanted to do as a matter of fact, he has, in a despicable, despicable manner, increased the bombing campaign.”
Bessent added: “So I think with President Trump, all options are on the table, and I think we’ll be examining those very closely this week.”
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In the weeks after meeting with President Donald Trump in Anchorage, Alaska, in an attempt to advance a peace deal, Putin has yet to back off from attacking Ukraine.
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On Thursday, Russia pummeled Ukraine with missiles and drones, killing at least 17 people and wounding 48 others in Kyiv. Among the dead were four children between 2 and 17, said Tymur Tkachenko, the head of Kyiv’s city administration.
Experts told Fox News Digital last week that the attack could be a signal Putin is utilizing diplomacy to buy himself more time to advance his goals and continue to attack Ukraine, all while avoiding secondary sanctions that the Trump administration has threatened to impose.
Bessent was also asked by Edson about the status of the U.S.-India relationship given the Trump administration’s recent tariffs on India over its purchases of Russian oil, which the White House views as helping to finance Russia’s war in Ukraine, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is meeting with his Russian and Chinese counterparts.
“This is a longstanding meeting, it’s called the Shanhai Cooperation Organization and I think it’s largely performative,” Bessent said. “I think at the end of the day, India is the most populous democracy in the world. Their values are much closer to ours and to China’s than to Russia’s.”
“I think at the end of the day, two great countries will get this solved. But the Indians have not been great actors in terms of buying Russian oil and then reselling it, financing the Russian war effort in Ukraine,” he added, while noting the slow progress in U.S.-India trade talks as an additional factor for the White House’s move to raise tariffs.
Fox News Digital’s Diana Stancy and FOX Business’ Eric Revell contributed to this report.
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