President Trump said Wednesday he felt it was the right time to slap sanctions on Russia as a part of the administration’s effort to push Moscow to end its war with Ukraine.

“I just felt it was time. We waited a long time. I thought that we’d go long before the Middle East,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, speaking next to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office.

Trump’s comments came shortly after the Treasury Department slapped sanctions on Russia’s two biggest oil companies, Open Joint Stock Company Rosneft Oil Company (Rosneft) and Lukoil OAO (Lukoil). The move is an effort to get Russia to end the conflict.

"It's a very big day in terms of what we're doing," Trump said. "These are tremendous sanctions. They're big, these are against their two big oil companies

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