Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there wouldn’t be a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia “unless both sides make concessions.”
During an appearance on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, host Martha Raddatz asked whether Rubio could name any concessions Russian President Vladimir Putin made during his meeting with President Trump in Alaska on Friday, which Rubio was in attendance for.
“I wouldn’t name them on your program,” Rubio responded.
When Raddatz pushed back, asking where the “pressure” was, Rubio said there can’t be a peace agreement “unless both sides give and get.”
“You can’t have a peace agreement unless both sides make concessions. That’s a fact,” he said. “That’s true in virtually any negotiation. If not, it’s just called surrender. And neither side is going to surrender. So both sides are going to have to make concessions.”
He added that “of course” concessions were asked for, but he argued that providing the specific concessions on the program would “make it harder and less likely that they’re going to agree to these things.”
“So, these negotiations, as much as everyone would love it to be a live pay-per-view event, these discussions only work best when they are conducted privately in … serious negotiations in which people who have to go back and respond to constituencies,” he added.
His comments come after Trump met with Putin on Friday at a summit in Alaska, alongside Rubio, special envoy Steve Witkoff and two Russian aides.
While no agreement emerged from the meeting, Trump touted it as “productive.”
“I believe we had a very productive meeting. There were many, many points that we agreed on. Most of them, I would say a couple of big ones that we haven’t quite gotten there, but we’ve made some headway. So, there’s no deal until there’s a deal,” Trump said after the meeting.
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