Marco Rubio Asked If Russia Will Receive Any 'Pressure' If They Won't Accept Ceasefire With Russia

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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.

Transcript

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.

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