Senate Hearing: Rubio: Ukraine and Russia must make concessions

Donald Trump’s preferred candidate for the State Department, Marco Rubio, spoke out at his hearing in the US Senate for an end to the Russian war of aggression and called for concessions on both sides. “It’s important that everyone is realistic,” said the 53-year-old. What Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin had done was “unacceptable,” he emphasized. There is no doubt about that. But the war must end.

Rubio: Ending the war in Ukraine should be official US policy

“Fundamentally, it will be difficult to achieve the goal of a ceasefire and ultimately a peace settlement unless both sides have leverage,” Rubio said. Conflicts of this kind would require a lot of “tough diplomacy,” he said. “But this war must end, and I think it should be the official policy of the United States.”

Putin’s goal is to essentially impose neutrality on Ukraine in order to eventually retrofit “to come back in four or five years and do the whole thing again,” Rubio warned. “This is not an outcome that any of us would prefer.” He went on to say that he thought it was important that the Ukrainians had leverage. “But they will also have to make concessions,” he emphasized. This also applies to Russia.

Rubio calls for more commitment from NATO partners

Rubio described the Western defense alliance NATO as “very important.” At the same time, he called on NATO partners to take on more responsibility and increase defense spending. “To be fair, the further east you move in Europe, the more money is spent on the military relative to gross domestic product (GDP).”

Last week, US President-elect Donald Trump asked NATO member states to significantly increase their defense spending. Instead of the previously targeted two percent of their (GDP), the partner countries should invest five percent in the future. With regard to US foreign policy, Rubio now warned that Washington too often subordinates core national interests to the global order.