Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested the US was looking for Russian President Vladimir Putin to move forward with negotiations on talks with Ukraine more quickly.
Speaking to reporters at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, he said, “What we’re not interested in – and I’m not accusing them of this; I’m just telling you – what we’re not interested in is negotiations about negotiations, that we’re not going to continue this forever.” He continued, “I think it was more an explanation of: This is our timeline, and at some point it will be clear whether you want peace or you don’t want peace. And that time is coming; it’s pretty short.”
While Rubio said the US position wasn’t “threatening,” he went on to say that Congress could add new sanctions on Russia if Moscow is perceived not to be advancing towards talks with Kiev quickly enough.
“Members of Congress have begun to file bills to increase sanctions.” He added, “ So, there is going to be growing pressure from Capitol Hill to impose sanctions that we’re not going to be able to stop if, in fact, we’re not making progress towards peace.”
The top diplomat said the message has been made clear to Moscow “that we need to begin to see real progress, or we’ll have to conclude that they’re not interested in peace.”
Rubio said that message was relayed through Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of Russia’s Direct Investment Fund, the Russian government’s sovereign wealth fund, who was in the US for talks with President Donald Trump’s Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff this week.
While Rubio said Washington would know within “weeks, not months” if Moscow wanted to make a deal, Reuters reported on Thursday that the Trump administration “will be unable to secure a Ukraine peace deal in the next few months and are drawing up new plans to pressure both Kiev and Moscow.”
The Kremlin also says the two sides are far apart on reaching a deal. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Tuesday that Russia couldn’t accept US proposals on ending the Ukraine war.
US officials noted that President Trump was increasingly faulted with Russian President Putin for delaying talks after initially placing blame on Ukrainian President Zelensky. On Sunday, Trump said he was “pissed off” at Putin and threatened to place “secondary tariffs” on Russia.
Reprint from Antiwar.com
