
NEW YORK | TASS | Russian President Vladimir Putin has been a global player for many years, so, the United States cannot but communicate with him to settle the conflict in Ukraine, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
“Putin is already on the world stage,” he said in an interview with ABC News. “He has the world’s largest tactical nuclear arsenal in the world, and the second largest strategic nuclear arsenal in the world. He’s already on the world stage.”
“When I hear people say that, ‘oh, it elevates him.’ Well, all we do is talk about Putin all the time. All the media has done is talk about Putin all the time for the last four or five years,” he noted.
“It means you’re not going to have a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, you’re not going to end a war between Russia and Ukraine without dealing with Putin. That’s just common sense. I shouldn’t even have to say it. So, people can say whatever they want,” he added.
In a statement to the press following the talks, Putin said that the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict was the main topic of the summit. The Russian leader also called for turning the page in bilateral relations and returning to cooperation, and invited Trump to Moscow. For his part, the US president announced the progress made in the talks, but noted that the parties had not managed to reach agreement.