Secretary of State Marco Rubio has stated that the US will keep sanctions on Russia in place at least until a deal to end the Ukraine conflict is reached.
Rubio gave the assurance that sanctions won’t be lifted sooner to a group of European counterparts on a call Tuesday, according to people familiar with the situation who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations. The conversation took place after Rubio joined other US officials in Saudi Arabia Tuesday in the highest level face-to-face meeting with Russian counterparts since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Rubio signaled sanctions relief would be part of any deal.
“There are sanctions that were imposed as a result of this conflict,” Rubio told reporters in Riyadh after the talks. “In order to bring an end to any conflict, there has to be concessions made by all sides.”
He added that a deal to end the war would open the “incredible opportunities that exist to partner with the Russians, geopolitically on issues of common interest, and frankly economically.”
Ukraine and European allies were excluded from those talks, raising fears in Kyiv and beyond that the US will cut a deal with Putin to end the fighting that sacrifices the security of Ukraine and Europe, upending years of US policy.
Ukraine's exclusion from Tuesday's meeting marked a sharp departure from Biden and NATO's mantra of "nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine." Kyiv has said it will not accept any deal imposed without its consent.
And the absence of European representatives added to U.S. allies' anxieties about whether Trump might be willing to give up too much for little from Putin.
That helped spur European governments to discuss the possibility of contributing peacekeepers to back any deal on Ukraine.
Last week US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was in Kyiv with a draft deal that would see Ukraine sign over half the value of its vast mineral rights to the US as compensation for aid. Zelenskiy declined to sign the pact, but Bessent said Tuesday he’s hopeful Kyiv will ultimately agree “once the Ukrainians understand that this is a long-term agreement that’s very beneficial to their security.”
