Rubio announced new contacts between the US and Russia

Earlier this week, new contacts between the American and Russian sides took place, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Fox News Radio.

"Earlier this week, Monday or Tuesday, we also had a substantial conversation with them, not with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, but with some of Putin's senior people, hoping to reach some understanding on the way forward that would lead to peace. And we have seen no progress on that. And I think that's what worries the president [US Donald Trump] the most," he said.

As Rubio notes, the US believes that a ceasefire and the start of negotiations are the best way to move forward in the settlement. However, in his opinion, the Russian side has not shown "sincere interest" in achieving this goal. This is related to Trump's decision to take action against Russia if there is no progress in the settlement by August 8.

Trump has “many options” for such measures, Rubio says. “He has options, as everyone knows, to impose sanctions on secondary oil sales , secondary sanctions on Russian oil sales, which is a huge part of their revenue. There are banking, sectoral banking sanctions, which would also be very effective. And again, I think we’re hoping to avoid that and find a way for them to stop the fighting,” he says.

The Kremlin emphasized that Moscow is committed to a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

On July 29, Trump set a new deadline for progress in resolving the conflict in Ukraine — ten days. The previous one — 50 days — had been in effect since July 14. After that deadline, the US president promised to impose secondary tariffs on Russia and its trading partners “of about 100%.”

At the same time, he admitted that these measures might not have an impact on Moscow, but he said that the US was going to introduce “tariffs and other measures.” The US president explained his decision by saying that he was “very disappointed” in Putin’s actions.

The Kremlin said it had taken Trump's statements into account and was "fairly calm" about his toughening rhetoric toward Russia. As for possible new restrictions, the Russian president's press secretary Dmitry Peskov noted that the Russian economy continues to function under "a huge number of sanctions" and has developed "a certain immunity" to them.

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