The government Trump He put on the shelf in recent weeks a working -class work group he had set up to formulate strategies of pressure on the Russia in order to accelerate peace talks with Ukraineaccording to three US officials who spoke to Reuters.

The group, which was set up earlier in the spring, lost the meaning of existence in May, as it became more and more clear to the participants that US President Donald Trump was not interested in adopting a more conflicting attitude towards Moscow.

The dismantling of the working group, whose existence had not been mentioned before, is likely to escalate European allies’ concerns about Trump’s different tone to Russia and his reluctance to express his full support to Ukraine.

The final blow to the working group came about three weeks ago, when most of the White House National Security Council (NSC) – including the entire team directly involved in the war in Ukraine – were fired in a wide clearance, according to the three officials.

According to officials, the working group was organized and coordinated by senior NSC executives, although people from the State Department, the Treasury, the Pentagon and the Secret Services community participated. Among those working in the effort was Andrew Piciou, the leading NSC official for Europe and Russia, who was removed in May.

The team was dismantled after the work of some US National Security Services in March for a coordinated effort to tackle Russian businesses sabotage and misinformation, as Reuters had reported at the time.

However, Trump could choose to adopt a stricter attitude towards Russia, regardless of the fate of the working group, which was set up to develop options for the president “if he wanted to become tougher in Russia,” one of the officials said.

Some Trump allies, including Republican Senator Lindsay Graham, have publicly been in favor of an extensive new round of penalties against Moscow, citing substantial rejection by the Kremlin of US proposals for a ceasefire.

Trump has said he is considering such measures, but has also regularly accused both sides of continuing hostilities.

The White House did not respond to a request to comment on the issue, nor the Treasury, the State Department and the Pentagon.

The Ukrainian and the Russian Embassy in Washington also did not respond to requests to comment on the issue.