NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has called on China, Brazil and India to pressure Russia or be hit by US sanctions.

US President Donald Trump had said he would impose "very severe tariffs" against Russia if no deal was reached to end the war in Ukraine 50 days.

Trump also threatened secondary tariffs of 100% on countries that buy Russian exports.

What did Rutte say about India, Brazil and China? 

While meeting Senators in the US, Rutte said he was sure that these countries, especially China, would be "very helpful" in putting pressure on Russia.

"My encouragement to these three countries, particularly is, if you live now in Beijing, or in Delhi, or you are the president of Brazil, you might want to take a look into this, because this might hit you very hard," Rutte told reporters.

"So please make the phone call to Vladimir Putin and tell him that he has to get serious about peace talks, because otherwise this will slam back on Brazil, on India and on China in a massive way," Rutte added.

Why India, Brazil and China?

The three countries account for the vast majority of Moscow's energy trade. And together with South Africa, they are the core nations of the BRICS alliance. 

Trump had already vowed higher tariffs on BRICS countries that align with the bloc's plans to challenge US hegemony.

Even before Trump's announcement of secondary tariffs earlier this week, US lawmakers have been working on a bipartisan bill for even tougher sanctions. 

The legislation seeks a 500% tariff on goods imported from countries that continue to buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other exports. 

Edited by: Saim Dušan Inayatullah