U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio mentioned in an interview with Politico on June 25 that U.S. President Donald Trump will resist European stress to escalate sanctions on Russia, arguing that doing so might shut the door to potential peace negotiations with Moscow.
Talking with Politico on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague, Rubio mentioned Trump needs to maintain open a diplomatic channel with Russian President Vladimir Putin, regardless of rising frustration from European leaders and President Volodymyr Zelensky over Russia's refusal to comply with a ceasefire.
"If we did what all people right here needs us to do, and that’s are available and crush them with extra sanctions, we most likely lose our capacity to speak to them concerning the ceasefire after which who's speaking to them?" Rubio mentioned.
Rubio acknowledged that Russia seems dedicated to pursuing its goals by drive.
"Our sense of it’s that the Russians are going to attempt to obtain on the battlefield what they've demanded on the negotiating desk, which is for certain territories, administrative traces, and the like," he mentioned. "We predict it’s going to be quite a bit tougher for them to attain that than they suppose it's going to be."
Rubio added that Trump "will know the precise time and place" for extra sanctions, however emphasised that imposing them too quickly might sign that the U.S. has given up on a negotiated decision.
Beforehand, Trump mentioned he had shunned imposing new sanctions on Russia as a result of he believed a peace cope with Moscow could be inside attain, warning he didn’t need to jeopardize negotiations by appearing prematurely.
Talking after two rounds of peace talks in Istanbul between Moscow and Kyiv that led to no ceasefire, Trump on June 5 declined to say when extra sanctions on Russia could be imposed, solely noting there’s a deadline "in (his) mind."
"If he (Trump) does it, you're virtually admitting that this isn’t going to be negotiated anytime quickly," he mentioned. "We're going to proceed to have interaction. Within the sense that if there's a possibility for us to make a distinction and get them to the desk, we're going to take it."
Zelensky and several other European leaders are anticipated to ask Trump throughout conferences on the summit to extend financial stress on Moscow.
It has been greater than 100 days, since Ukraine agreed to a U.S.-backed full ceasefire, whereas Russia continues to reject it. Moscow continues pushing maximalist calls for whereas intensifying assaults throughout Ukrainian cities.
The Kyiv IndependentAlisa Yurchenko