The US political stance towards Russia is on the verge of a serious change. This was reported by Zamin.uz.
According to Bloomberg, the main reason for this change was Secretary of State Marco Rubio. His firm position and conclusions following the dialogue with Moscow prompted Washington to shape a new policy.
According to agency sources, when Rubio spoke by phone with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, he realized that the Kremlin was trying to delay peace negotiations. For this reason, he canceled the planned face-to-face meeting and recommended President Donald Trump to take tough measures against Russia.
Donald Trump supported this recommendation, canceled the summit scheduled to be held in Budapest, and imposed the first sanctions during his second presidential term. According to the president, the time to take such measures had long since come.
He emphasized before journalists that although his conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin seemed to be cordial, these talks yielded no results. According to Bloomberg, Russia presented a draft peace agreement on Ukraine to the American side, but this document mostly reiterated Moscow's existing positions.
In it, the Russian side demanded even more territory from Ukrainian lands, which caused sharp dissatisfaction within the US administration. After the latest phone call between Putin and Trump, Moscow assumed that Washington had agreed to give part of Donbass to Russia.
However, after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump clearly stated his position, announcing that he only supported a ceasefire along the current front line. This proposal was rejected by the Kremlin on the eve of the Alaska summit.
At the same time, Marco Rubio has not completely severed diplomatic relations with Moscow. In his statement, he emphasized that the US is always open to cooperation if there is a possibility for peace.
According to Rubio, President Trump had been saying for several months that if peace was not established, he would be forced to take tough measures, and today exactly such a step was taken. On October 22, the US administration imposed new sanctions against major Russian oil companies, including Rosneft and Lukoil.
Experts believe this may be the beginning of Washington intensifying political pressure on Moscow. These measures are expected to have a significant impact on Russia's economic and political activity.
