She said this in a comment to Politico on the sidelines of the Aspen Security Forum, Ukrinform reports.
“It should be earlier,” Braze said, stressing that there is no point in giving Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin more time when Russian troops continue their attacks.
The Latvian foreign minister welcomed Trump's statement that the US would send weapons to Ukraine and that he would impose secondary tariffs of up to 100 percent on countries that continue to trade with Russia if Moscow does not agree to a peace deal within 50 days.
But, she said, Russia still has the ability to continue fighting “for a while,” and the West must increase pressure on Moscow to force it to the negotiating table. Immediate sanctions could be one way to do that, Braze said.
In her opinion, the US and its allies must ensure that “Russia understands that it’s not going to do better, but worse with every day.”
"We’re seeing that already, the Russian economy is not doing well. What we are looking for is pressure on Russia and weakening Russia’s ability to conduct warfare. It’s not about the Russian people. It’s about the Russian war fighting capacity and what they are doing on the battlefield, that all needs to be weakened," Braze emphasized.
She added that intelligence assessments generally indicate that Putin is not interested in ending the war.
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“The intel and overall assessment has been aligned among the allies, including the Americans, that there is no indication that Putin wants peace,” said the Latvian foreign minister.
She added that Trump came to the same conclusion after trying to keep the door open for Russia.
“It was a question of time when it was clear that Putin is just fooling everyone and delaying, delaying tactics,” said the Latvian foreign minister.
As reported by Ukrinform, US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he was giving Russia 50 days to reach an agreement to end the war in Ukraine. Otherwise, he threatened Russia with sanctions.
