Washington wants to see if Russia is ‘serious’ about peace, says Rubio

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio addresses accusations of Trump administration giving in to Russia before Ukraine war talks.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio pushed back against accusations that the Trump administration has given in to Russia even before talks on ending the Ukraine war begin, saying Washington first wants to see whether Moscow was “serious”.

Russia and the United States agreed to establish teams to negotiate ending the war at talks in Riyadh earlier this week. Neither Ukraine nor its European allies were invited.

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U.S. President Donald Trump “wants this war with Ukraine to end. And he wants to know: Are the Russians serious about ending the war, or not serious about ending the war?” Mr. Rubio said in an interview on Thursday (February 20, 2025) posted on social network X.

“The only way is to test them, to basically engage them and say, okay, are you serious about ending the war, and if so, what are your demands,” Mr. Rubio told journalist Catherine Herridge.

He also said that he was “not a fan of most of what (Russian President) Vladimir Putin has done.”

But he added: “We ultimately have to be able to talk to a nation that has, in some cases, the largest tactical nuclear weapons stockpile in the world, and the second largest, if not the largest, strategic nuclear weapons stockpile in the world.”