US halts pressure on Russia

The initiative was founded and coordinated by senior National Security Council officials, although representatives from the State Department, Treasury Department, Pentagon and intelligence agencies also joined. Among those who worked on the initiative was Andrew Peek, the NSC's top official for Europe and Russia, who was fired from his position in May, Reuters reported.

The initiative, which was launched in the spring, lost momentum in May as it became increasingly clear to participants that Trump was not interested in adopting a more confrontational stance toward Moscow.

Trump has become increasingly frustrated in recent months that his efforts to end the war in Ukraine are not producing any results; he has begun to say that the U.S. may give up trying to broker peace altogether.

The final blow to the task force came about three weeks ago when most members of the White House National Security Council, including the entire team directly involved in the war in Ukraine, were fired as part of a broad purge.

The dissolution of the group also follows the termination in March of some U.S. national security agencies' work on coordinated measures to counter Russian sabotage and disinformation operations.

Photo: foreignukraines.com.