{"id":148783,"date":"2025-08-17T13:22:38","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T18:22:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.worldtribune.com\/?p=148783"},"modified":"2025-08-17T13:22:38","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T18:22:38","slug":"rubio-no-other-leader-could-bring-putin-to-the-table-like-trump-did","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/rubio-no-other-leader-could-bring-putin-to-the-table-like-trump-did\/","title":{"rendered":"Rubio: ‘No other leader’ could bring Putin to the table like Trump did"},"content":{"rendered":"

by<\/em><\/span> WorldTribune<\/strong> Staff \/ <\/em><\/span><\/span>247 Real News<\/strong><\/span><\/a> August 17, 2025 <\/em> <\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

[The following is a State Department readout from Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s Aug. 17 appearance on Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures” with Maria Bartiromo.<\/em>]<\/p>\n

QUESTION: Joining me now is the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was also on the trip to Alaska with President Trump and who will be there tomorrow with President Trump and Zelenskyy at the White House. Mr. Secretary, thanks so much for joining us this morning.<\/p>\n

SECRETARY RUBIO: Thank you. Thanks for having me.<\/p>\n

QUESTION: Why did President Trump\u2019s meeting with Putin end with no ceasefire, and what does Putin want?<\/p>\n

\"\"SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, yeah. Well, a couple things. First of all, if you recall, there\u2019s no way you can have a meeting like that \u2013 and we never said there was going to be a deal coming out of the meeting because the Ukrainians are not there. This is a war between two countries. It\u2019s not America. It\u2019s Ukraine and Russia. We met with the Russian side. We\u2019ve spoken repeatedly with the Ukrainian side. We\u2019ll see them again tomorrow in person along with our allies in Europe. So I do think some progress was made in that talk.<\/p>\n

In terms of narrowing down the issue set, and now these are hard issues that remain \u2013 the conversation about where the territorial lines are going to be, questions about long-term security guarantees and who Ukraine can have military alliances with, things like that \u2013 these are difficult things. But I do believe we made progress in narrowing down the issue set, but there\u2019s a lot of work that remains.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s still \u2013 this is a \u2013 there\u2019s a reason why this war has been going on for three and a half years. It\u2019s a war that never would have happened had President Trump been president, but he inherited it, and now he\u2019s trying to do everything he can to bring about peace. He\u2019s made peace a priority of his administration, as you\u2019ve seen with all the peace deals we\u2019ve been able to achieve throughout the world. This one\u2019s the hardest one. Everyone acknowledges that. But he\u2019s the only one in the world that has any chance of doing it.<\/p>\n

Look, peace may not be possible at the end of the day. We don\u2019t know. But if it is possible, he\u2019s the only one that can get it done, and that\u2019s why everyone\u2019s asking him. They\u2019re asking him to meet with Putin, and they\u2019re also asking him to come here tomorrow and meet with him to talk further about what we do next.<\/p>\n

QUESTION: A European diplomat has confirmed to Fox that President Trump supports Putin\u2019s proposal for Russia to take full control of Luhansk and Donetsk, all of Donbas. Do you support this move?<\/p>\n

SECRETARY RUBIO: No. First of all, I don\u2019t know who told you that, but they don\u2019t know what they\u2019re talking about. I mean, the President has said that in terms of territories and stuff, these are things that Zelenskyy is going to have to decide on. These are things that the Ukrainian side is going to have to agree to. That\u2019s \u2013 all the President is trying to do here is narrow down the open issues, narrow them down and then see if we can play some role in bringing that closer together so we can stop and end this war once and for all.<\/p>\n

Look, this war is only going to get worse. It\u2019s not going to get better. You\u2019ve seen that in the escalation in the attacks. Russia\u2019s economy is now 100 percent full-time war footing. They are producing munitions. The Ukrainians are as well. Both sides are hitting each other very, very hard, and the war is only going to get worse. It\u2019s not going to get better.<\/p>\n

So he\u2019s trying to do everything he can to bring it to an end, but people that are out there talking what they don\u2019t know with all these stupid leaks and things of that nature, they all want to just sound important. They don\u2019t know what they\u2019re talking about. The President has been very \u2013 the President\u2019s been very clear. He \u2013 in terms of, like, what Zelenskyy is going to agree to, that\u2019s up to them to decide. They\u2019re going to have to decide what they\u2019re willing to give and ultimately what they\u2019re going to get, what they\u2019re going to demand as well.<\/p>\n

Both sides are going to \u2013 but here\u2019s what I can tell you for certain. You can\u2019t have a peace deal between two warring factions unless both sides agree to give up something and both sides agree that the other side gets something, right? Otherwise, if one side gets everything they want, that\u2019s not a peace deal. It\u2019s called surrender. And I don\u2019t think this is a war that\u2019s going to end anytime soon on the basis of surrender.<\/p>\n

So this is tough stuff. I mean, it\u2019s difficult to bring these two sides together. We\u2019ve made some progress, we believe, and now we\u2019ll have to follow up on that progress. And ultimately, where this should lead is to a meeting between the three leaders, between Zelenskyy, Putin, and President Trump, where we could finalize it. But we\u2019ve got to get this thing closer before we get to that point.<\/p>\n

QUESTION: What does Europe want, Secretary?<\/p>\n

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, look, I think the role that Europe can play ultimately in the long term is on security guarantees that Ukraine has been talking about. They should play a key element in that regard. And I also think the Europeans are very helpful being in the room sometimes and sort of giving ideas about what accommodations can be made and what flexibility the Ukrainian side could have.<\/p>\n

So that\u2019s the role that they\u2019ve played up to this point. The President invited them to come here. He told President Zelenskyy to come on Monday and bring European leaders that he chose to bring with him, so there\u2019s a handful of heads of state that will be here as well tomorrow at the invitation of the President to see if we can make some progress on some of these points.<\/p>\n

The President spoke to many of these leaders on the airplane \u2013 I think it was 2 o\u2019clock in the morning our time, it was probably 8 o\u2019clock or 9 o\u2019clock in the morning their time \u2013 on our way back from Alaska. And there it was \u2013 and then yesterday I had a call with all the national security advisors of the different countries.<\/p>\n

So we\u2019ve got a work agenda ahead of us over the next few days, and we\u2019ve been talking about these things now for a while as well, so \u2013 because we also talked to them before. We had multiple meetings and conversations with them leading up to the events in Alaska. So they can play a very constructive role here, but ultimately, only President Trump \u2013 if a peace deal is possible, he\u2019s the only one that can bring it about.<\/p>\n

QUESTION: Is Europe still buying Russian oil?<\/p>\n

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, if you look at the oil that\u2019s going to China and being refined, a lot of that is then being sold back into Europe. Europe\u2019s also buying natural gas still. Now, there are countries trying to get \u2013 to wean themselves off of it, but there\u2019s more Europe can do with regards to their own sanctions. If they\u2019re \u2013 they always talk about sanctions, and they\u2019ve got a sanctions package coming out as well, but \u2013 an additional sanctions package supposedly coming out soon. So \u2013 but for us, I think the most important role that Europe can play here is to have a constructive role in building up those security guarantees that will allow Ukraine the potential flexibility to make a deal on the rest of the issues that are at stake.<\/p>\n

QUESTION: Well, I mean, wouldn\u2019t that be a major lever to pull, to put sanctions on Europe or punish Europe for continuing to buy oil and gas from Russia? Is that something on the table?<\/p>\n

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, I don\u2019t know about on Europe directly, obviously, but certainly there are implications to secondary sanctions. If you put secondary sanctions on a country \u2013 let\u2019s say you were to go after the oil sales of Russian oil to China. Well, China just refines that oil. That oil is then sold into the global marketplace, and anyone who\u2019s buying that oil would be paying more for it or, if it doesn\u2019t exist, would have to find an alternative source for it. So we have heard, when you talk about the Senate bill that was being proposed where there was a hundred percent tariffs on China and India, we did hear from a number of European countries \u2013 not in press releases but we heard from them \u2013 some concern about what that could mean.<\/p>\n

But look, I don\u2019t want to get into a tit-for-tat with the Europeans on this. I think they can play a very constructive role here in helping us get to that point. But \u2013 and the President has kept them in the loop. The first call the President made as soon as the meeting with Putin was over was to Secretary General of NATO Mark Rutte, who will be there tomorrow as well. We\u2019ve been in touch with them over and over again with regards to this process.<\/p>\n

So I think the President\u2019s done an incredible job here of trying to bring the sides together. There\u2019s a lot of work that still remains. You don\u2019t have a deal, as the President says, until you have a deal. This is not an easy deal. This is not a war that began under President Trump. It\u2019s not \u2013 as you saw acknowledged at the press conference there in Alaska, it\u2019s actually a war that would not have happened had President Trump been in the White House. He inherits a three-year-old war, and now he\u2019s trying to untangle it, and \u2013 because if this falls apart, this thing is going to get far worse and go on much longer. You have thousands and thousands of more people are going to die and be injured as a result of this.<\/p>\n

QUESTION: Can you give us any clarity on a timeline in terms of the U.S.\u2019s thinking? I mean, obviously there\u2019s no ceasefire in place right now. What are the repercussions? Are we just going to watch the murders continue?<\/p>\n

SECRETARY RUBIO: No, look, at some point, a decision has to be made if a peace deal is possible or not. If at some point it becomes clear that both sides are so far apart and so dug in that we\u2019re just not near a peace deal, then the President will have a decision to make about how much more time do we invest in it and what actions does he take then.<\/p>\n

But I want everyone to understand if tomorrow \u2013 if this morning the President woke up and said I\u2019m putting these terrible, strong sanctions on Russia, that\u2019s fine. It may make people feel good for a couple hours, but here\u2019s what you\u2019re basically saying. You\u2019re saying talks are over; for the foreseeable future, for the next year or year and a half, there\u2019s no more talks.<\/p>\n

Because there\u2019s no one else in the world that can talk to him, okay? Putin is not going to meet with Macron. He\u2019s not going to meet with the UK, with all due respect to these leaders. None of these leaders are going to be able to bring him to the table and talk to them. There\u2019s only one leader in the world that has any chance of bringing these two sides together. If there is a chance, there\u2019s only one leader in the world that can do it, and that\u2019s President Trump. And you forfeit that role the minute you put additional sanctions on him. We may get to that point, unfortunately, but if we do, it means that peace talks are no longer possible, and that would be very unfortunate, because the real-world ramifications are that while we\u2019re here calling each other names and doing TV interviews about this stuff and all of that in American politics, there are people who today will be injured and killed in the battlefield and in cities in Ukraine, on the front lines, and even in Russia. Even as we speak, people that have nothing to do with this war are suffering as a result of it.<\/p>\n

And I think we are very fortunate and blessed and should be thankful to have a President that has made peace and the achievement of peace a priority of his administration. We\u2019ve seen it in Cambodia and Thailand. We\u2019ve seen it in India-Pakistan. We\u2019ve seen it in Rwanda and the DRC. And we\u2019re going to continue to pursue any opportunities we can find to bring about peace in the world.<\/p>\n

QUESTION: Understood. What are you expecting to present to Zelenskyy tomorrow?<\/p>\n

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, I think tomorrow\u2019s conversations, a lot of it will be centered around what are the kinds of security guarantees that Ukraine is looking for, because what Ukraine is looking for here is how do \u2013 okay, the war ends. How do we make sure this doesn\u2019t happen again? How do we make sure that, in two or three years, the Russians don\u2019t come back at us? So they want guarantees built up so that they can protect themselves or prevent such a war from occurring in the future.<\/p>\n

So the details of what that would look like is something that hopefully we\u2019ll spend a lot of time discussing tomorrow. We had a long conversation about it yesterday with the national security advisers of multiple European countries. Some work has already gone into it, but now we\u2019re at a stage where we need to build some details on it, and then ultimately, obviously present that to the Russian side, who \u2013 and get them to accept it. But first we have to have our ducks in order.<\/p>\n

QUESTION: Well, what kind of security guarantees is the U.S. willing to make?<\/p>\n

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, that\u2019ll be part of the conversation tomorrow. At the end of the day, the truth of the matter is that any security guarantee that \u2013 the Europeans, there\u2019s a lot they can do and a lot they can offer, and it would be a huge concession. It would be a very big move by the President if he were to offer a U.S. commitment to a security guarantee. That will be his decision to make. And I want people to understand that. That\u2019s \u2013 that tells you how bad \u2013 if he does it, it tells you how badly he wants peace, how much he values peace, that he would be willing to make a concession like that. But ultimately, that will be a decision for the President to make.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what we\u2019ll talk about tomorrow. I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll spend six, seven hours talking about these things, maybe more, and sort of get to a point where we have something more concrete. We\u2019ve done a lot of work on it already, but a little \u2013 some more work is required before we can say that we have a plan on security guarantees that unifies us.<\/p>\n

QUESTION: Well, what other economic levers does the U.S. have to use here? I mean, you\u2019ve got the secondary sanctions and you said perhaps there is something to be done with China. What about designating Russia as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, which is something Lindsey Graham has been working on?<\/p>\n

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, those designations can be useful from time to time, but in this particular case, it\u2019s not going to change the course of the war. Look, can the U.S. inflict greater pain on the Russian economy going after the banking sector, the oil companies, and things of this nature? Of course we could. Of course we can. And that always remains, unfortunately, an option. But just understand: If we get to the point where we\u2019re doing that, okay, it may make people feel good, and it may have an implication on Russia in the long term, but in the short term, what it means is that talks are over, that at this point we are basically now stuck with another year and a half or two of war, of death, of destruction. That\u2019s what it means.<\/p>\n

We may get to that point, sadly and unfortunately, because peace is not possible. But that \u2013 we\u2019re trying to avoid getting to that point. We want to give every opportunity possible for the Russians to say yes to something that Ukraine can live with, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to do. And I think the President deserves a lot of credit for wanting to do that. No one else has tried to do that. Joe Biden couldn\u2019t have done it. No other leader in the world could do it. Frankly, he doesn\u2019t have to do it.<\/p>\n

Look, the war in Ukraine gets a lot of attention, and I\u2019m not saying it\u2019s an irrelevant thing. It\u2019s a very tragic thing that\u2019s going on. But life in America on a daily basis will be largely unaffected, whether there\u2019s peace in Ukraine or not. That\u2019s just a fact. We have a lot of issues we\u2019re focused on, not just at home but around the world. But the fact that the President has dedicated this much time to a war between two countries on another continent tells you how much he values peace. And we should be very thankful and grateful that we have a President who\u2019s a President of peace, who values peace and wants to use the power of his office to achieve the end of wars and the prevention of new ones.<\/p>\n

QUESTION: But isn\u2019t the U.S. directly impacted because of that rare earth minerals deal? How important is that deal, and has Putin already affected that deal by bombing the region?<\/p>\n

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, first of all, that deal is important but, I mean, it\u2019s not \u2013 the United States has other sources of rare earth minerals. I think that deal\u2019s very important for Ukraine in terms of their own reconstruction and rebuilding, and to have American partners in a postwar Ukraine is of great benefit to Ukraine. And obviously, it would be great for us too. But I don\u2019t think that alone justifies us being behind a war effort here. What we want to be able to do here is be behind a peace effort. We want to achieve the end of a war.<\/p>\n

So I\u2019m not saying our interests in Ukraine are zero. What I am saying is the amount of time and energy that this administration has placed on this war is something that people should compare to some of the other issues we have around the world that deserve our attention as well. And the President just deserves a lot of credit for putting so much time and energy behind something that is very, very difficult to end. It\u2019s a very difficult war to end.<\/p>\n

The Russians feel very strongly that they have the upper hand, that they\u2019re making progress. They don\u2019t necessarily feel pressure. And the Ukrainians feel very strongly that they were invaded, that they\u2019ve been aggrieved, and that what the Russians have done is horrifying and should be stopped. So both sides are pretty dug in. And we don\u2019t have sanctions on Ukraine; we have sanctions on Russia. We don\u2019t provide weapons to Russia; we provide weapons and assistance to Ukraine. So the U.S. has done a lot already with regards to this.<\/p>\n

But this President is trying to figure out how to end it, how to stop it. And I think that\u2019s incredible, that we have a President willing to use the power of the United States and the power \u2013 that\u2019s the goal here. It\u2019s not to win the war, it\u2019s to end it.<\/p>\n

QUESTION: So will you continue to put pressure on Russia in all ways in order to stop this? What is the next pressure point?<\/p>\n

SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, in order to have a peace deal, both sides are going to have to make concessions. And so obviously, the Russian side is going to have to make concessions. One side cannot get everything they want. If one \u2013 if in a negotiation one side gets everything they want, that\u2019s not a peace deal; that\u2019s a surrender. That\u2019s the terms of surrender. And I don\u2019t think you\u2019re going to see surrender by either side anytime soon.<\/p>\n

So the reality of it is, in order to make a peace deal, Ukraine is going to have to accept things it doesn\u2019t like and Russia is going to have to accept things it doesn\u2019t like.<\/p>\n

QUESTION: Okay.<\/p>\n

SECRETARY RUBIO: And we need to be able to use the influence of the presidency to push both sides to make those concessions.<\/p>\n

QUESTION: Did Putin bring up a potential nuclear deal with the United States as part of this?<\/p>\n

SECRETARY RUBIO: No. No, the talks were almost exclusively \u2013 and I would say 99 percent were just about the war and about how to bring it to an end, and the Russian perspective. And don\u2019t \u2013 people should not underestimate the value of meeting in person. They\u2019ve had multiple phone conversations, but meeting in person really allows you to get a better gauge of how strongly one side feels about certain issues. We\u2019ve met with the Ukrainians dozens of times. It\u2019s our first meeting with the Russian side in terms of at the level of President Putin. And obviously the \u2013 hopefully, the next time we meet, it\u2019ll be because Zelenskyy is in the room and they\u2019re getting close to finalizing a peace deal.<\/p>\n

\n

Beat The Press <\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by WorldTribune Staff \/ 247 Real News August 17, 2025 [The following is a State Department readout from Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s Aug. 17 appearance on Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures” with Maria Bartiromo.] QUESTION: Joining me now is the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was also on the trip to Alaska with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":148784,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,5],"tags":[414,6],"class_list":["post-148783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking","category-exclusives","category-world-tribune","tag-rubio-no-other-leader-could-bring-putin-to-the-table-like-trump-did","tag-worldtribune-com","last_archivepost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148783\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldtribune.com\/2025\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}