The Czech Republic reported attempts to persuade Trump to impose sanctions against Russia.

At a closed dinner at the NATO summit, European leaders pressed US President Donald Trump to take a tougher stance on Russia, but he showed restraint. Czech President Petr Pavel stated this in an interview with the Czech news channel CNN Prima NEWS.

The NATO summit took place in The Hague from June 24 to 25. According to the Czech president, during his conversations with Trump, they discussed not only Czech-US relations but also the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the trade war with CHINA.

"We unanimously and collectively convinced him [Trump] that the time had come to significantly increase economic pressure on Russia. Not with the goal of forcing Russia to collapse economically—that's not in our interests—but so that he understands that he simply has no choice but to act. He was restrained, but he understands that this is a very effective tool," Pavel shared, sharing details of the private dinner.

Pavel recalled that it was Trump's trade tariffs that forced China to change its stance. "I said, 'You see, this is the kind of decisive action that needs to be taken against Russia now. If China feels it, then Russia and its economy will feel it too, perhaps within a week or two,'" he said.

Pavel noted that the main goal of pressuring Moscow is to bring it to the negotiating table to resolve the conflict with Kiev. "If it's not there, then there's nothing to discuss," the Czech president added.

Pavel described Trump as someone who wants to "provoke." He recalled that previous American presidents—George W. Bush and Barack Obama—also insisted on the need to invest more in defense, but all these calls were taken lightly. "Donald Trump came in with a different approach—he simply said, 'If you don't do this, I won't protect you.' It sounded like shrapnel to everyone, but it woke them up," Pavel said.

Trump has repeatedly expressed conflicting positions on sanctions, ranging from a willingness to impose them to a reluctance to do so, lest they interfere with the negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv. However, last week, Senator Lindsey Graham announced that the American president had made his decision and decided to move forward with a bill to tighten anti-Russian sanctions. The bill, co-authored by Graham himself, calls for a 500% tariff on those purchasing energy from Russia. The senator named India and China among the countries that could be targeted by this measure, as they support Russia by purchasing its hydrocarbons.

Moscow considers the sanctions illegal. The Kremlin has stated that the restrictions primarily impact Europe. "The more sanctions, the worse it is for those who impose them," said President Vladimir Putin .

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