Speaking to reporters in Shannon, Ireland, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was asked if any pressure will be put on Russia to accept a ceasefire deal.
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00:00Just to ask on Russia, did you have – or Waltz have any contact with Zelensky while
00:04you were in Saudi Arabia?
00:05And then –
00:06No, I didn't.
00:07I don't believe Mr. Waltz did either, but I did not.
00:10But that was the team he selected, and it was appropriate.
00:13It was his closest advisor, it was the foreign minister, it was their head of security.
00:17So we felt that that was the counterparts they sent to deal with us, and that's obviously
00:22pretty common in these sorts of things.
00:25Generally, the heads of state meets heads of state, and appropriate counterparts meet
00:29others.
00:30He – I imagine he had to get back, and he's the president of a wartime country,
00:35so he's – but we did not have any contact with him there.
00:38But I wouldn't read anything into it other than he selected his team for these talks,
00:44and the president selected his.
00:45So –
00:46And was there any discussion with the Ukrainians about how a ceasefire, if Russia agrees, would
00:50be enforced?
00:51And how would the U.S. ensure part of it?
00:53Yeah, well, the interesting thing about modern warfare is there – it's easier than ever
00:57to monitor, and I don't – simply because there's so many eyes on the ground and there's
01:00also all sorts of overhead, commercial satellite and the like, it would be pretty hard to hide
01:04drone strikes, it would be hard to hide missile strikes, ballistic strikes, artillery.
01:09So we feel like that is something that could be monitored.
01:11Obviously, if in fact the Russians say yes, let's hope they say yes.
01:15If they say yes, one of the things we'll have to determine is who do both sides trust
01:20to be on the ground to sort of monitor some of the small arms fires and exchanges that
01:24could happen.
01:26But those are practices that have become common in these, and I don't think that would be
01:31difficult to set up.
01:32We didn't get into specifics, but obviously the need to monitor a ceasefire is clear to
01:38everyone.
01:39Sir, just a quick follow-up on this question.
01:40One more.
01:41This is it.
01:42Yeah, because we're –
01:43You have a –
01:44I'm going to have to get back on the plane.
01:45Last question.
01:46Sir.
01:47Yeah, yeah.
01:48You have – this administration has not hesitated to put a lot of pressure on Ukraine.
01:50You reduced their intelligence support in the middle of a shooting war.
01:53You temporarily cut off their arms, criticized them publicly – not you, but the leadership
02:00in public.
02:02Are you truly prepared to apply pressure on Russia should it be recalcitrant and not agree
02:08to the terms of the ceasefire?
02:09There's been no concrete action that this administration has taken to punish Russia
02:15since it's come to office.
02:16Well, a couple points.
02:17To be clear, as far as I am aware, the United States has not provided armaments to Russia.
02:22The United States is not providing assistance to Russia.
02:25Every single sanction that has been imposed on Russia remains in place.
02:30Every single sanction the President inherited has – remains in place.
02:33Well, inherited – previous administration.
02:34Right.
02:35But, well, I mean, they're pretty sanctioned up.
02:36I mean, you're – there's a lot of sanctions on already.
02:40So my point being is that we've – there's been no steps taken to relieve any of these
02:45things.
02:46These things continue to be in place.
02:47But we don't think it's constructive for me to stand here today and begin to issue
02:50threats about what we're going to do if Russia says no.
02:53Let's hope they say yes.
02:54At the end, let's understand – I remind everybody and bring you back to the point
02:57– the President's desire here is to bring about a lasting and enduring peace in Ukraine.
03:02He wants the shooting and the fighting to stop, not just for 30 days, not just for 60
03:07days, but permanently.
03:08To do that, both sides have to come to the table.
03:11We are happy.
03:13We are happy that the Ukrainians have agreed to do so.
03:15Now it is up to Russia to say yes.
03:18If Russia says yes, that's very good news, and we will begin that process and do everything
03:22we can to move that process forward.
03:24If they say no, then obviously we'll have to examine everything and sort of figure out
03:29where we stand in the world and what their true intentions are.
03:31I think it'll be – if they say no, it'll tell us a lot about what their goals are and
03:36what their mindset is.
03:38But I don't want to go into that before they've even answered us by issuing statements that
03:43are abrasive in any way.
03:44Our hope is that when we met with them last, they expressed a willingness under the right
03:48conditions, without elaborating on the right conditions, to bring an end to this conflict.
03:53That was our question when we met with them.
03:54I think I shared it with you that we're on our trip.
03:56The point of meeting with them was to find out is this a war they wanted to end or is
04:00this a war they just wanted to continue in perpetuity until they achieved whatever goals
04:04they have in mind.
04:05And they expressed a willingness under the right circumstances, which they did not define,
04:10to bring an end to this conflict.
04:11So we have Ukraine ready to come to the table.
04:13Now we need to get Russia to come to the table.
04:15If they do and the shooting stops, I think that's a very good day in the world.
04:19Obviously, no one here is pretending that that negotiations is going to be easy or fast
04:23or simple, but at least we've gotten to that point.
04:26If their answer is no, then obviously we'll have to deal with that and we'll have to
04:30at that point make decisions on that basis.
04:34We're not there yet.
04:35Hopefully the answer is yes.
04:36Okay.
04:37Thanks, guys.