US secretary of State heading to Saudi Arabia for talks with Russia

17/2/2025 6:16

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday said Ukraine

and Europe would be part of any "real negotiations" to end



Moscow's war



, signaling that U.S. talks with Russia this week were a

chance to see how serious Russian President Vladimir Putin is

about peace.



America's top diplomat played down European concerns of

being cut out of the initial talks between Russia and the United

States set to take place in Saudi Arabia in the coming days. In

an interview with CBS, Rubio said a negotiation process had not

yet begun in earnest, and if talks advanced, the Ukrainians and

other Europeans would be brought into the fold.



Earlier on Sunday, Reuters reported that U.S. officials had

handed European officials a questionnaire asking, among other

things, how many troops they could contribute to enforcing a

peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia.



"President Trump spoke to Vladimir Putin last week, and in

it, Vladimir Putin expressed his interest in peace, and the

president expressed his desire to see an end to this conflict in

a way that was enduring and that protected Ukrainian

sovereignty," Rubio said on CBS's "Meet the Press."



"Now, obviously it has to be followed up by action, so the

next few weeks and days will determine whether it's serious or

not. Ultimately, one phone call does not make peace."



U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and national security

adviser Mike Waltz were due to leave for Saudi Arabia on Sunday

evening, Witkoff said in a Fox News interview.



Rubio noted he was due to be in Saudi Arabia anyway due to

previously arranged official travel. The composition of the

Russian delegation had not yet been finalized, he said.



The planned talks in Saudi Arabia coincide with a U.S. bid

to cut a deal with Kyiv to open up Ukraine's natural resources

wealth to U.S. investment. Ukrainian President Volodymyr

Zelenskiy, in an NBC interview broadcast on Sunday, questioned

if minerals in areas held by Russia would be given to Putin.







EUROPEAN ROLE IN PEACE TALKS, OR NOT?



Rubio and Witkoff rejected concerns that Ukraine and other

European leaders would have no place at peace negotiations,

despite Trump's Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, suggesting

precisely that at this weekend's Munich Security Conference.



Witkoff noted in an interview on Fox News' "Sunday Morning

Futures" that Ukrainian officials had met several U.S. officials

in recent days at the conference, while Trump had talked with

Zelenskiy last week.



Rubio, for his part, said that Ukrainians and other

Europeans would be included in any meaningful negotiations.



"Ultimately, it will reach a point - if it's real

negotiations, and we're not there yet - but if that were to

happen, Ukraine will have to be involved because they're the

ones that were invaded, and the Europeans will have to be

involved because they have sanctions on Putin and Russia as

well," Rubio said.



"We're just not there yet."



French President Emmanuel Macron will host European leaders

on Monday for an emergency summit on the Ukraine war, Macron's

office said, in the wake of Kellogg's remarks.



European officials have been left shocked and flat-footed by

the Trump administration’s moves on Ukraine, Russia and European

defense in recent days.



Chief among their fears is that they can no longer count on

U.S. military protection and that Trump will attempt to ink a

Ukraine peace deal with Putin that undermines Kyiv and broader

European continental security.



Asked if he had discussed lifting sanctions on Russia during

a Saturday phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei

Lavrov, Rubio declined to provide confirmation, saying only that

they "did not go into any details."



After the call, Moscow said that the two had discussed the

removal of "unilateral barriers" set by the previous U.S.

administration in relations with Russia.



Rubio said he did address the "difficult" operating

conditions of the U.S. embassy in Moscow with Lavrov. If there

was to be progress in Ukraine peacemaking, both Russia and the

U.S. would need properly functioning embassies in the other

country, he added.