US would still like to meet with Russians despite new sanctions - Rubio
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the new sanctions against Russia do not mean that Washington is refusing further dialogue with Moscow.
This is reported by Censor.NET with reference to CNN.
"The president has repeatedly said for several months that at some point he will have to do something if we do not make progress on a peace agreement. Today he decided to do something," he noted.
However, according to Rubio, "the US would still like to meet with the Russians."
"I had a good conversation with Foreign Minister Lavrov, and we will return to it. We will always be interested in cooperation if there is an opportunity to achieve peace," he added.
What preceded it?
As a reminder, earlier, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant stated that the US was going to announce a significant increase in sanctions against Russia on October 23 or 24.
Subsequently, the US Treasury announced the introduction of sanctions against major Russian oil companies - Rosneft and Lukoil. The reason for the additional sanctions is Russia's lack of serious readiness for a peace process to end the war in Ukraine.
The upcoming meeting between Trump and Putin
On October 16, 2025, Trump spoke with the Russian dictator.
The parties agreed to meet in Budapest to discuss ending the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Upcoming talks between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are scheduled for the coming weeks and could be an important step in the search for a peaceful resolution to the war in Ukraine.
The meeting in Budapest was seen as one of the possible diplomatic steps in the context of discussing Russia's war against Ukraine.
No new dates or format for the talks have been set at this time.
Earlier, NBC News journalist Garrett Haake, citing a source in the White House, reported that preparations for the Trump-Putin summit in Budapest had been postponed indefinitely.
Later, Trump announced that he had canceled the planned meeting with Putin.
