The US Secretary of State is working overtime to salvage the Russia-inspired proposal
It is a uniquely American sentiment that “when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade”.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio may be wishing that Donald Trump had given him a crate of citrus to juice over the weekend, rather than the Russia-inspired 28-point plan for Ukraine that the US President falsely claimed as his own.
Rubio is now working overtime in Geneva to try to salvage a peace effort that has raised fresh questions about why his boss remains so captivated by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is working alongside Rubio in the Swiss capital, flanked by Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and the US President’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Rubio is urgently trying to clean up the mess created by Witkoff, who appears to have fallen hook, line and sinker for Russian talking points that – after a quick wash through Google Translate – became official Trump administration policy.
For Rubio, there are enormous stakes in the days ahead. Widely believed to harbour his own presidential aspirations for 2028, Trump has recently indicated that he thinks either the former Senator from Florida or US Vice President JD Vance would be strong candidates to succeed him at the helm of the Make America Great Again movement.
Unlike Vance, Rubio is steeped in foreign policy. The son of Cuban immigrants, he served as a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during his time on Capitol Hill. In 2022, he introduced legislation requiring Putin and his top lieutenants to face accountability for war crimes in Ukraine and Syria.
Since becoming Trump’s Secretary of State, and now also Acting National Security Adviser, Rubio has demurred when asked whether he still considers Putin a war criminal. But he is generally considered the key pro-Ukraine voice in Trump’s inner circle, while Vance embraces Moscow’s talking points about the conflict.
Over the weekend, as Rubio worked to placate Ukrainian negotiators who were fuming over the administration’s blind acceptance of Russia’s proposals to end the war, he had to deal with fresh efforts by Trump to interfere with an already complex process. On social media, Trump again falsely accused Ukraine’s leaders of showing “zero gratitude” for US military assistance during the three-year war.
On Monday morning, hours after Rubio announced that his talks with Ukrainian leaders had been “the most productive and meaningful meeting so far in this entire process”, Trump again weighed in. “Is it really possible that big progress is being made in Peace Talks between Russia and Ukraine???” he asked rhetorically on his social media account. “Don’t believe it until you see it.”
Rubio will be aware that his negotiations to pluck victory from the jaws of monumental American embarrassment may prove unsuccessful. Any redress of the numerous pro-Russian elements contained within the original proposal is likely to be rejected by Moscow, especially those relating to a wholesale, limitless amnesty for even the most egregious Russian battlefield conduct, along with acts of pillage and violence against Ukrainian civilians.
Trump’s hostility towards Kyiv has been apparent for months, and his personal animus towards Zelensky stretches back to the US President’s 2020 impeachment, and the revelation that he had strong-armed Zelensky to investigate discredited corruption allegations relating to Joe Biden’s business activities in Ukraine.
But as Rubio tries to rewrite much of the plan without openly acknowledging that is what he is being forced to do, he is getting some assistance from Capitol Hill. There, top Republicans are also being forced to pretend they admire Trump’s embrace of the peace proposals, while also making clear the terms they contain are unacceptable to the party’s Russia hawks.
“While there are many good ideas in the …peace plan, there are several areas that are very problematic and can be made better,” said Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. In a carefully crafted social media message, he warned “the goal of any peace plan is to end the war honourably and justly – and not create new conflict”.
Then, in a possible effort to draw the attention of Rubio and US First Lady Melania Trump to one disastrous omission in the Russian-backed plan, he asked: “What about the fate of the almost 20,000 Ukrainian children kidnapped by Russia’s forces? This issue has to be addressed in any negotiated settlement”.
Mrs Trump, who has maintained direct communication with Putin about the issue, may have some questions for her husband about why that aspect of the conflict is overlooked in the Kremlin plan he spent last week promoting.
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Rubio continues loyally to argue that Trump alone is driving the negotiating process. On Sunday, he was asked for his reaction to counter-proposals backed by European leaders and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
“What counter plan?” Rubio asked a reporter.
“I haven’t seen any counter plan,” he claimed, before stalking out of the Geneva briefing room.
