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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that the coming days will show how serious Vladimir Putin is about peace in Ukraine. This comes as US and Russian representatives prepare for a meeting in Saudi Arabia, Reuters reports.
Despite Europe’s concerns about its absence from the early stages of the negotiations, Rubio assured that the peace process had not yet started in its fullest sense.
US and Russia launch peace talks
According to Reuters, American officials have already sent European governments a questionnaire on the possible participation of their military in securing a future peace agreement. However, no European leader has been invited to the talks in Saudi Arabia.
“President Trump spoke with Putin last week, and he declared his readiness for peace. But this is not enough – we need to see real action. The coming days and weeks will determine whether Moscow is truly interested in ending the war,” Marco Rubio said in an interview with CBS.
Steve Witkoff, the US emissary for the Middle East, and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz have already left for Saudi Arabia. Rubio himself will also arrive there as part of the planned events. At the same time, the Russian delegation has not yet determined its composition.
Europe and Ukraine are still on the sidelines, but may join later
Despite the dissatisfaction of European leaders, the US Secretary of State assured that Kyiv and the EU would be part of the negotiations when a real dialogue begins.
“If this is going to be a real negotiation, Ukraine must be involved, because it is its territory that Russia has occupied. Europe will also be involved, because it was Europe that imposed sanctions on the Kremlin,” Rubio said.
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron is convening an emergency summit in Paris to bring together European leaders to discuss the situation.
Are the US ready to ease sanctions against Russia?
Rubio left the question of possible easing of sanctions against the Kremlin, in particular those imposed by the Joe Biden administration, without a direct answer.
However, after his phone call with Sergey Lavrov, Moscow said that the parties discussed “the removal of unilateral barriers” in US-Russian relations.
