During a press conference at NATO headquarters on Friday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was asked about ongoing peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Secretary, have the Russians done anything concrete
00:03to make you encouraged that they are truly interested in peace?
00:06And when you talk about timeline,
00:07I know you're not gonna give a specific timeline,
00:08but are you talking weeks, are you talking months?
00:11I think we're talking weeks, probably, yeah.
00:14I mean, you know, there's a lot that has to happen here
00:16in the next few weeks in order for this to be real.
00:19In terms of concrete, I think they've agreed
00:22to certain things.
00:23I mean, I think their things are not striking now
00:24that they were before.
00:26Obviously, both sides claim that the ceasefire
00:27has been violated as typical ceasefires like this.
00:30But that said, not concrete in terms of,
00:32are we closer to peace?
00:34We're closer to peace simply because we're talking
00:35to both sides, but we're not closer to peace
00:37because we have a deal on our hands to end this conflict.
00:40But we're gonna know soon enough.
00:42That's my point, I make everybody, you know,
00:43people come, oh, well, Putin, you can't trust him.
00:45It's not about trusting Putin, not about trusting anybody.
00:48This is about actions.
00:49If you're interested in peace, you stop fighting
00:52and you lay out the conditions by which you're willing
00:54to end a war, and they have to be reasonable conditions,
00:56right, not crazy stuff.
00:58If you're interested in peace, that's what you do.
01:00If you're not interested in peace,
01:01then you sort of drag it out and you come up with excuses
01:04and you pull it, and we know that,
01:05and we're not gonna get pulled into that.
01:07But let's hope it doesn't come to that.
01:08Let's hope, you know, let's be optimistic
01:11that that's not the direction we're going.
01:13We're prepared if it is, but let's hope
01:15that we're not heading in the direction
01:17of this is just a delay tactic.
01:18All right, one more, then we wrap up.
01:20Don't you guys want to go home, the ones that came?
01:21What was it?
01:22Your allies here and also Ukraine,
01:24they believe that Russia is actually preparing
01:26to launch another campaign, a military campaign,
01:29as soon as the winter season ends.
01:31Do you have any reason to doubt that?
01:34That they're gonna do what, I'm sorry?
01:35The Russian side, they are preparing
01:37to start another military campaign.
01:39Well, then, well, no, they're not interested in peace.
01:41And at this very moment, they're targeting energy sites.
01:43Can I get a reaction to that?
01:44Targeting what, I'm sorry?
01:45Energy sites in Ukraine.
01:47Well, again, this is, I get that that means
01:50they're violating the ceasefire.
01:51That's not a good sign, you know,
01:52but I think that would tell you this,
01:54that ultimately, this is a war right now.
01:56Things are gonna be blowing up in Ukraine
01:57and inside of Russia
01:58because there's still a war going on.
02:00That's what we're trying to end.
02:01Okay, if we have a true ceasefire,
02:02which is what we want, a complete ceasefire,
02:05nothing should be blowing up.
02:06But the Russians didn't agree to that.
02:08They wanted a partial.
02:09And then, obviously, when you get into these partials,
02:11that's one of the reasons why we didn't push for a partial.
02:13We'll take it because it's better than nothing.
02:15But one of the reasons why we didn't push for a partial,
02:18because there's always disputes about
02:20what are you hitting and what you're not hitting.
02:22But in the end, this is still a war,
02:24and we want it to stop.
02:26The fact that religious sites are being hit,
02:27or energy sites are being hit,
02:29or civilian sites are being hit,
02:30that's why war is a bad thing.
02:32And that's why the president wants to end it.
02:34As far as them conducting another campaign,
02:36well, then that'll be a very clear sign, right?
02:38If all of a sudden we wake up tomorrow
02:40and the Russians are launching a massive offensive,
02:42then I think that's a pretty clear sign
02:44they're not interested in peace.
02:45That hasn't happened yet.
02:46Let's hope it doesn't happen.
02:48We want to know whether they want to do peace or not.
02:50And if they do, then there's a way there.
02:51And we're willing to help.
02:53If they're not, then it's good to know early,
02:55so we can adjust our policies accordingly.
02:57All right, everybody.
02:57All right.
02:58Thank you, guys.