Surprise from Rubio, to The Hague. What he publicly declared, after recognizing, behind closed doors, that Russia is the “problem” in peace negotiations

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio rejected calls from European leaders to impose additional sanctions against Russia, writes Politico.

The movement came as a surprise for the foreign ministers of the NATO member countries with which Rubio met the previous evening, at the annual alliance summit.

During Tuesday night's discussions, during a private one focused on the subject of Ukraine, Rubio suggested that the US Senate will probably adopt a law to tighten the sanctions against Russia after completing the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill”, the draft tax law and the federal spending of the President Donald The meeting is likely to be adopted this week.

Rubio, who was criticized at Tuesday evening for Trump's reluctance to adopt a tougher position compared to Moscow, acknowledged in front of his European counterparts that Russia is the problem that prevents peace negotiations to end the Ukraine war, according to European officials, who discussed the publication of Anonymous.

But a few hours later, in an interview with Politico, in the margin of the NATO summit in The Hague, Rubio presented the reasons for the American administration to postpone new sanctions against Russia.

“If we do what everyone here wants to do, namely to intervene and crush them with more sanctions, we would probably lose the ability to talk to them about ceasing fire and then who would talk to them?” Rubio said, adding that Trump will know the “time and place” to change tactics.

Asked about this discrepancy, a high American official said Rubio underlines the same main points, but its interlocutors focus on different aspects.

The head of the American diplomacy “was very consistent in meetings and calls with its counterparts on three key points: the first is that the president strongly believes that the only way to end this war is through negotiations; the second, as soon as the US imposes on Russia, the opportunity for the US to get involved in these negotiations, and in the third Which, at one point, will take action on sanctions, ”said the US official.

The draft law on sanctions against Moscow in the American Congress

Although the draft law on sanctions, initiated by Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican of South Carolina, has over 80 co-energizers, which is more than enough to overcome a possible presidential veto, the leader of the Senate, John Thune, Republican from South Dakot adopt.

The White House collaborates with Graham and other American parliamentarians in the content of the draft law to ensure that it keeps options for Trump, Rubio said for the publication in Brussels.

“Lindsey Graham has a bill, as well as others, and it is possible to happen,” Rubio said. “We discussed with them about how to formulate it, to structure it, because, ultimately, we believe that it must be flexible so that the president can impose sanctions, and we have not eliminated any of the sanctions we imposed,” added the head of American diplomacy.

But even at a summit in which NATO officials were cautious to say or do something that could upset Trump before the official adoption of the new defense spending commitment, of 5% of the GDP of each ally state, some Europeans discreetly expressed the dissatisfaction with the lack of emergency.

“At one point, it will seem that Putin is playing with Trump,” said one of the European diplomats about Russian president. “Trump says he wants to end the war. And the only way to put an end to the war is to increase the pressure on Putin,” the diplomat said.

This reaction was obvious at Tuesday evening dinner of NATO foreign ministers. While most of the countries explicitly thanked Trump and congratulated him on ceasing fire between Israel and Iran, and Rubio acknowledged that Russia is a problem in peace efforts in Ukraine, others have been sending a trump administration.

Poland's Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, who was publicly contracted with Rubio about Elon Musk's threats to stop the Starlink service for Ukraine, directly criticized the American diplomat and said that Russia shows contempt for Trump by violating fire.

Russia's permanent attacks on Kiev with drones “should not run out of consequences,” Sikorski to Rubio at the meeting, according to a second European diplomat.

The European Union is expected to adopt a new package of sanctions that would try to reduce Russia's income from oil by reducing the price ceiling for the Kremlin on the sea. The measure would come in spite of the resistance of Hungary and Slovakia, which protested against the plans of the Community block to gradually give up the purchase of Russian fossil fuels by 2027. But European officials believe that they will need American influence – and a higher financial pressure on the Kremlin – to return to the negotiation mass.

Meanwhile, Rubio presented different “fronts” to the allies in front of the cameras and during the private meetings. Behind the closed doors, the Baltic and Nordic countries have come to consider Rubio an ally within the Trump administration, which has no illusions about Russia and China, even if its public rhetoric does not always reflect this, according to the second European diplomatic official.

“The question that remains in everyone's mind is whether Trump has the power to end the war, by exercising pressure (on Russia),” the European diplomat said. “Here he will be offered an instrument,” the diplomat said.