US has spoken with Putin’s entourage about ending war in Ukraine but has seen no progress - Rubio
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that this week, Washington held talks with the Russian side to end the war against Ukraine.
Rubio said this on Fox News on 31 July, Censor.NET reports.
"We continue to engage with the Russian side - just this week, on Monday or Tuesday, we had a full conversation with them. Not with Putin, but with some of his senior officials, in the hope of reaching some kind of understanding on the way forward to peace. But we didn't see any progress," he said.
According to the official, US President Donald Trump has been making efforts to engage with the Russian side for more than six months to make peace with Ukraine, but the situation has not changed.
Rubio noted that Trump is concerned that at first he has "great phone calls" with the Russians, during which everyone seems to agree on the need to end the war. And then he sees attacks on cities on the news, including those far from the front line.
"So at some point, he's going to have to make a decision about how much longer to try to negotiate a ceasefire if one of the parties is not interested," he said.
Rubio named several options for the US president. Among them: secondary sanctions on oil sales and sectoral sanctions against the banking system.
According to him, these measures could have a powerful impact, but Washington still hopes to avoid such a scenario.
"We are open to different ways, but the best way is to stop the shooting and start negotiations. However, so far, at least from our point of view, we do not see a sincere desire on the part of the Russian side to achieve this goal. We will continue to be ready to participate in something like this if the opportunity arises. But obviously, the President is not going to wait forever," the US Secretary of State concluded.
