How has Russia responded to Trump's 50-day ultimatum?

If the threat of hefty US tariffs being imposed on Russia and its trading partners has worried the Kremlin's leadership, they are not showing it.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin has not responded to yesterday’s announcement by US President Donald Trump that the US will impose 100% tariffs on Russia and its trading partners if Moscow fails to halt its war in Ukraine within 50 days.

Those secondary sanctions would penalise buyers of Russian oil exports, particularly China and India.

Mr Trump also announced that the US would supply Ukraine with high-grade US military equipment, including up to 17 Patriot air defence systems, to be paid for by NATO countries.

Mr Putin's silence is not surprising. He has not reacted to other recent critical comments about him by Mr Trump either.

All the messaging coming from the Kremlin indicates that it is unfazed by Mr Trump's 50-day ultimatum, or at least that is how it wants to be perceived.

This afternoon, Reuters cited three anonymous sources close to the Kremlin's power base, who said that Mr Putin will not stop the war under pressure from the West.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has described the US president’s comments yesterday as "very serious".

"We certainly need time to analyse what was said in Washington," he said.

Yesterday, Mr Peskov had downplayed US plans to supply Kyiv with Patriots and instead focused on highlighting that Russia was ready to start a third round of direct talks with Ukraine.

The US, said Mr Peskov, was "continuing" to arm Ukraine as it had already been doing, as if to say that the Trump administration's policy reversal was not newsworthy.

But it was big news.

Few could have predicted in February, when Mr Trump held his first amicable phone call with Mr Putin, that the US president would end up threatening sanctions against Moscow and supplying Ukraine with billions of dollars worth of weapons, as he agreed yesterday in Washington with NATO chief Mark Rutte.

Just months ago, both presidents were talking about a new US-Russia trading relationship.

Instead, Russia’s rejection of a US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire (which Ukraine agreed to as early as 11 March), its belligerent stance during two rounds of direct talks with Ukrainian officials in Istanbul in May and June, and its decision to intensify its air war on Ukrainian cities in recent weeks has made Mr Trump reach for the stick, not the carrot, to get Russia to agree to a ceasefire deal.

Other senior Russian officials have brushed aside Mr Trump's comments too.

Dmitry Medvedev, a firebrand and former Russian president who sits on the country's security council, posted on X this morning that Russia "didn’t care" about Mr Trump’s 50-day warning to end the war.

"Trump issued a theatrical ultimatum to the Kremlin. The world shuddered, expecting the consequences. Belligerent Europe was disappointed," he wrote.

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, speaking today during a visit to China, said that Russia wants to understand the motivation behind Mr Trump’s decision.

But it is hard to believe that Mr Lavrov, a seasoned diplomat, cannot interpret why the US president has changed course.

Quite simply, Mr Trump has grown tired of the Russian leader’s nice talk, or "bulls**t" as he described it last week.

Others like Russian deputy foreign minister Sergey Ryabkov told Russia’s state news agency TASS that Moscow remains "unshakeable" and views ultimatums to be "unacceptable".

Even without hearing directly from Mr Putin, the response from Moscow to yesterday’s statements by Mr Trump implies that Russia is in no mood to slow the momentum of its war.

The threat of new US sanctions on Russia and its trading partners has not spooked the markets either.

The MOEX, an index that tracks the top 50 Russian companies listed on the Moscow stock exchange, is up 1.6% since trading began yesterday morning when news broke about Mr Trump's intention supply Patriots to Ukraine.

It is not a significant increase but has bucked a two-week dip in the value of Russian stocks.

Nor have oil markets slumped since yesterday's ultimatum by Mr Trump.

Brent crude, the main global benchmark for oil prices, dipped $1.6 yesterday but steadied today, trading about $1 lower than yesterday morning. Not a significant drop.

That suggests that investors doubt the US will follow through on its threat to impose tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil exports.

Or, that Mr Trump's 50-day deadline allows enough time for oil traders to see how things play out in the coming weeks before deciding to sell off.

It could take weeks for Mr Trump's ultimatum to start bearing any real pressure.

And a lot can change in the next 50 days.

Russia could decide to further ramp up its war effort to gain as much land as possible in that time.

On the frontlines, the bloody business continues as usual.

Russia's defence ministry said its forces captured two villages in the Donetsk region today - a sign that Moscow's goals have not changed since yesterday's announcement in the White House.