Pence urges Trump to impose sanctions on Putin after Alaska summit

Former Vice President Mike Pence President Donald Trump needs to “hammer” Russian President Vladimir Putin and other secondary sanctions, he said Sunday.

After meeting Putin High-risk summit in Alaska, Trump has changed from advocating an immediate ceasefire agreement to a broader “peace agreement” between Ukraine and Russia.

Pence made Trump’s style of dealing with dictators as a “Velvet Glove” approach when he appeared on CNN’s “ITU” on Sunday, but said he thought “the hammer needs to come, and it needs to come right away.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to meet Trump in the Oval Office on Monday, with British and European leaders joining. Pence said Trump, meanwhile, needed to “take the phone and ask” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, “immediately passed a minor sanctions bill that almost everyone in the U.S. Senate supports.”

Putin seems annoying as journalists slam him and Trump

“The combination of participation, but it also makes clear that Putin is ready to act, even if we double our commitment to Ukraine’s security,” Pence said.

“The last thing we want What I saw was Putin He later added: “The war continues with the latest delays until winter strikes, and the battle season is actually around the world.” Literally, we have to do both things, that is, sanctions should be on the president’s desk, available for him to sign at the beginning of the negotiations. This is the most important way we can ensure that peace agreements are making real progress. ”

Pence, who served as Vice President of Trump during his tenure, reiterated that Putin attacked Georgia under President George W. Bush, attacked Crimea under President Barack Obama and invaded Ukraine after President Joe Biden’s “Afghanistan withdrawal.”

“Putin has no disguised his desire to re-determine the influence of the old Soviet Union, which is the fact we use to call the evil empire of Eastern Europe,” Pence told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “I think Putin can only understand the power, so when the president and his diplomatic team make this re-applicant with Putin, it seems interesting that Putin will not stop until he stops.”

Pence said Trump “should be praised for seeking peace in Ukraine”, noting that the president has already obtained peace agreements in Africa, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

“I think he deserves to be the leader of the free world because he has not given up on Ukraine,” Pence said, claiming that a few months ago the government and its surroundings would cut. ”

President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin were held at a joint press conference on Friday, August 15, 2025 at Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska’s joint base. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Democrats doubt whether Trump will join Putin in the Alaska summit to stop Ukraine’s ceasefire

Pence said he wanted to praise the president for “trying to make progress”, but said he would like to see a ceasefire deal. Still, he said: “Nothing is better than a good deal.”

Based on us Special Envoy Steve Witkoff Pence’s description of the negotiations said: “There was there that Putin and Trump were at least one meeting that provided security assurances to the United States, and it was clear that the president had not confiscated anything related to the national security of the United States or the security of our allies in this war.”

Witkoff told CNN that the Trump administration “intentionally attempts to stop a peace agreement to end the battle permanently—very very, very quickly, faster than a ceasefire.” He also said Trump disagrees with “any form of land swap” on behalf of the Ukrainians. At the summit, Putin pushed the Ukrainians to withdraw from Donetsk and Luhansk in exchange for Russian troops to freeze the front lines in other regions.

“At the end of the day, it’s important to remember that the bad guy here is Putin. Putin launched a brutal invasion three years ago,” Pence said. “Now, the United States and our allies stand firmer than ever before and create the conditions for just and lasting peace.”

President Donald Trump arrived at Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 15, 2025 in Anchorage, Alaska. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Pence, a few minutes before talking to CNN on Sunday morning, socialized with the truth, teasing: “Russia has made great progress. Stay tuned!”

Trump also criticized media reports about his meeting with Putin.

“It’s incredible how fake news violently distorts the truth when it comes to me,” Trump wrote on social media earlier Sunday. “What I have nothing to say or do will lead them to honestly write or report me. I had a pleasant meeting in Alaska about Biden’s stupid war that will never happen!!!”

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“If I let Russia give up Moscow as part of the deal, then the fake news and its partner radical left Democrats would say I made a horrible mistake and a very bad deal,” Trump added. “That’s why they’re fake news! And, they should talk about these 6 wars, etc. I just stopped!!!