Facing intense criticism, US President Donald Trump said he had taken a "good decision" to exempt Russia from sweeping sanctions under a new law and asserted that many did not know what it actually meant.
"A lot of you don't know what my decision is yet, but we'll figure it out, and you'll figure it out," Trump told reporters at the Mar-a-Lago resort in Miami on Saturday evening.
"It's a very good decision, and it's going to be a decision that's good for the country, and I think good for the world because we're really at a world stage," Trump said.
On Friday, Trump signed an executive order exempting Russia from a new sanctions measure Graham Act that the US Congress passed last month.
The executive order also granted a waiver from 100 per cent tariffs on the top five purchasers of Russian oil and gas, including China and India.