Rubio says new talks with Putin’s circle on Ukraine underway
Photo: Marco Rubio, US Secretary of State (Getty Images)
US officials held talks this week with close associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the war against Ukraine, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview with Fox News Radio.
Rubio noted that President Donald Trump has been waiting for more than six months and has done everything possible to bring Russia’s war against Ukraine to an end.
"We continue to engage with the Russian side, as early as this week – earlier this week, on Monday or Tuesday. We had a whole conversation with them as well – not with Putin but with some of Putin’s top people – in hopes of arriving at some understanding on a path forward that would lead to peace, and we’ve not seen any progress on that," he said.
He clarified that what "bothers" Trump the most is when, after having good phone conversations with Putin, he turns on the news and sees that Russia has bombed another Ukrainian city located far from the front line.
"So at some point, he’s got to make a decision here about what – how much to continue to engage in an effort to do ceasefires if one of the two sides is not interested in one," Rubio said.
According to him, the American leader now has many options to pressure Russia. He can impose secondary sanctions on the sale of Russian oil, as it is a significant part of Moscow’s revenue. Sanctions on the banking sector are also possible, and they will be "very powerful".
"Again, I think our hope is to avoid that and to sort of figure out a way that we can get the fighting to stop. We think that’s the best path forward, but we’re open to some different paths. But the best path forward is to have the shooting stop and the talking start. But so far, there’s not been, what we feel at least, a sincere interest on the Russian side of achieving that objective," the US Secretary of State said.
He also pointed out that Trump is "not going to wait forever."
Trump's ultimatum
On July 14, US President Donald Trump threatened Russia with secondary sanctions if it did not stop the war against Ukraine within 50 days.
That deadline shifted to Tuesday, July 29. The American leader emphasized that Putin now has only 10 days left.
Acting US Alternate Representative John Kelley stressed that Trump wants to see the end of Russia’s war against Ukraine by August 8.
