Marco Rubio: Washington does not want negotiations about negotiations

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that Washington would soon find out whether Moscow was truly serious about a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Ukraine. According to him, this will become clear in weeks, not months.

Photo: commons.wikimedia.org by Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Marco Rubio

"We will know soon enough, in a matter of weeks, not months, whether Russia is serious about peace or not. I hope they are," Rubio said at the end of a two-day NATO meeting. "If this is dragging things out, President Trump's not going to fall into the trap of endless negotiations about negotiations," Rubio said. "We're testing to see if the Russians are interested in peace. Their actions - not their words, their actions - will determine whether they're serious or not, and we intend to find that out sooner rather than later," he noted adding that a peaceful settlement would be good for the entire world.

The American side will not prejudge any concessions that either Kyiv or Moscow may make as part of a settlement of the conflict, Rubio said.

"We're not going to prejudge what the concessions will be, because those will depend on what Ukraine and Russia are willing to accept. But we have to take concrete steps toward peace,” he noted.

According to the Secretary of State, the Ukrainian side has demonstrated readiness for a full ceasefire and for creating space for negotiations. Russia, in turn, must show "through actions, not words,” that it is interested in peace. "There are some promising signs,” Rubio added.

On March 6, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated what kind of peace would be acceptable to Russia. Moscow needs a resolution that ensures long-term historical stability, Putin said.

Roughly two weeks later, Presidents Putin and Trump held a phone conversation during which they discussed a 30-day halt to strikes on energy infrastructure. The same day, the Russian leader issued the corresponding order to the military. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky supported the temporary ceasefire.

At the end of March, Trump threatened new restrictions on Russian oil exports and said he was "very angry” and "infuriated” after Putin proposed introducing temporary UN-led administration in Ukraine to oversee elections.

On April 2, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that President Putin remains open to peace talks on Ukraine. Two days later, Trump confirmed that both Putin and Zelensky were ready to reach an agreement on Ukraine.

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Marco Antonio Rubio (; born May 27, 1971) is an American politician and diplomat serving as the 72nd United States secretary of state since 2025. A member of the Republican Party, he represented Florida in the United States Senate from 2011 to 2025, and was a candidate during the 2016 Republican Party primary elections for president of the United States. During his tenure as secretary of state, he has also served as the acting administrator of USAID and acting archivist of the United States. Rubio is a Cuban American from Miami, Florida. He was the law graduate from University of Miami. After serving as a city commissioner for West Miami in the 1990s, he was elected in 2000 to represent the 111th district in the Florida House of Representatives. As the Republican majority leader, he was subsequently elected speaker of the Florida House; he served for two years beginning in November 2006. Rubio left the Florida legislature in 2008 due to term limits, and began teaching at Florida International University.