Trump Urges Turkey To Stop Buying Russian Oil

President Donald Trump publicly urged Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at an Oval Office meeting to stop buying Russian oil, saying cutting Moscow’s energy revenues is crucial to ending the war in Ukraine and even directly admonishing Vladimir Putin to stop. Trump signaled he could lift U.S. sanctions imposed after Turkey’s S-400 purchase and suggested Ankara might be allowed back into F-35 talks or offered F-16s and other defense and trade incentives, but no firm commitments on sanctions relief or jet sales were announced. The visit — Erdogan’s first trip to Washington in about six years — marked a thaw in ties, with both leaders emphasizing cooperation on Syria while remaining divided over Israel’s actions in Gaza; Trump also expressed hope for a Gaza ceasefire and reiterated efforts to secure the release of Israeli hostages. Turkey’s large role as a buyer of Russian fuel — roughly a quarter of Russia’s oil product exports in early 2025 — made it a primary target of U.S. pressure. Trump framed the exchange as transactional diplomacy, casting Erdogan as a potentially influential intermediary with both Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and using defense and trade incentives to try to curb Russia’s war funding.