US State Secretary Rubio behind Trump's sudden change on Russia — Bloomberg
Photo: Donald Trump, President of the United States (Getty Images)
This week, US President Donald Trump suddenly changed his attitude toward Russia and imposed the first sanctions of his second term. This was partly due to the influence of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to Bloomberg.
Sources speaking to the agency on condition of anonymity said that Rubio canceled a planned face-to-face meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. This happened after a phone call between the two, which made it clear that the Kremlin was not interested in ending the war.
American and European officials reported that Rubio stated that there had been no significant change in Russia's position. His position differed from the more conciliatory strategy toward the aggressor country pursued by Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff.
"President Trump always leads on foreign policy, and his agenda is executed by national security officials like Secretary Rubio and Special Envoy Witkoff, who are one, unified team behind the President’s America First vision," White House spokesperson Anna Kelly says.
At the same time, Bloomberg notes that there are no signs that Witkoff has lost his authority in Trump's eyes on the issue of Russia.
Change in Trump's rhetoric
Last week, the US President announced a possible meeting with Putin in Hungary to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.
In response, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia had rejected a truce.
After that, on Wednesday, October 22, Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Russia's two largest oil companies.
In addition, the US President canceled his expected meeting with Putin. He explained that he would not hold talks with Putin because he was confident that he would not be able to achieve the desired result.
On Friday, October 24, Russia sent its special representative, Kirill Dmitriev, to the US to discuss relations between the US and Russia.
