Rubio explains why Trump is delaying new sanctions against Russia

U.S. President Donald Trump will not support Europe's request to tighten sanctions against Russia, as Washington still wants to have room for negotiations on a peace deal between Moscow and Kyiv. This was reported by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in an interview with Politico.

The article says that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European leaders hope to persuade Trump later on Wednesday to increase sanctions against Moscow, especially after Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has repeatedly rejected US attempts to broker a ceasefire.

"If we do what everybody here wants, which is to come in and crush them with more sanctions, we're probably going to lose the ability to talk to them about a ceasefire, and then who's going to talk to them?" said Rubio.

He added that Trump will "know the right time and place" for new economic measures, and the administration is working with Congress to ensure the American president has the flexibility he needs. The secretary of state emphasized that once this happens, it will mean that the window for negotiations with Russia will likely be closed.

"If he does that, you're basically admitting that this issue is not going to be negotiable anytime soon," Rubio said.

"We will continue to cooperate. In the sense that if we have an opportunity to change something and bring them to the negotiating table, we will take it," the head of US diplomacy continued.

As talks with Russia stalled, Rubio said Moscow believes it can achieve its territorial goals on the battlefield – something Washington disagrees with.

"Our feeling is that the Russians will try to achieve on the battlefield what they demanded at the negotiating table, namely the preservation of the administrative boundaries of certain territories. We believe that it will be much more difficult for them to achieve this than they think," he summarized .

• On June 17, 2025, Bloomberg wrote that the discussion between G7 leaders at the summit in Canada did not prompt Trump to tighten sanctions against Russia.
• On the same day, Trump said that the US is not imposing sanctions against Russia, as it is allegedly waiting for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.