“NBC News, citing more than a dozen current and former US and European officials, reports on the non-public competition between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the US President’s Special Representative Steve Witkoff in the context of promoting “peace talks” regarding Ukraine.”, — write: www.pravda.com.ua
Illustrative photo: Getty Images Source: “European Truth” with reference to the material NBC News
Details: The publication cites several previously unknown cases when Witkoff organized international meetings to end the war in Ukraine without Rubio’s knowledge.
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In April 2025, the Secretary of State – who was supposed to fly to Paris for talks on Ukraine – accidentally learned that Witkoff had arranged a personal meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Rubio asked to join the meeting, but the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that this change must be approved by Witkoff personally. Rubio eventually contacted him, and the secretary of state joined the conversation.
At the end of November, a few days after the talks in Geneva, Trump’s special representative organized a meeting with the Ukrainian side in Florida.
According to two NBC News sources, Rubio learned about the planned meeting only when the Ukrainians asked his representatives about it.
“It’s quite obvious that Rubio was excluded from this process. He should be the one in charge of all this,” the channel quoted a senior Trump administration official as saying on condition of anonymity.
In addition to differences over peace efforts in Ukraine, Witkoff has clashed with Rubio and State Department officials over how he approaches security issues, particularly during his trips to Russia, the report said.
According to three US officials, some representatives of the Trump administration questioned the appropriateness of Witkoff’s use of his own plane to fly to Moscow – in particular, because of the lack of secure communication channels.
In May, according to NBC News, the State Department initiated an investigation, after which Witkoff was escorted by additional security and provided with a secure cell phone system for use on his plane.
“However, according to a US official and a source familiar with the situation, there are still concerns that Witkoff is not always using a secure government communications system,” the report said.
Publicly, the White House – and Rubio and Witkoff themselves – claimthat the special representative and the secretary of state are working together to achieve peace in Ukraine.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in November called “fake” publication in the media that the administration of President Donald Trump has two diametrically opposed approaches to the Russian Federation’s war against Ukraine.