The United States opposes “hostile” language in the communique following the upcoming meeting of the G7 foreign ministers, which could hinder efforts to organize negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
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This is the answer the head of the American Foreign Ministry gave to a journalist’s question whether there are differences between the G7 countries over the wording of the Ukrainian conflict in the future communique.
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“We believe that hostile language sometimes makes it difficult to bring the parties to the negotiating table, especially when right now we seem to be the only ones who are able to bring such negotiations to life,” Rubio told reporters on his way to a meeting with the Ukrainian side in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the State Department press service quoted him as saying.
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Rubio noted that “some European countries” are ready to go further in their formulations, but the United States will not sign a communique that does not correspond to their position.
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Bloomberg previously reported that the United States insists on softening the wording regarding Russia in the communique following the upcoming meeting of the G7 foreign ministers. According to a draft document reviewed by the agency, Washington insists on removing the word “sanctions” from the communique regarding Moscow. In addition, according to Bloomberg’s interlocutors, the United States opposed the creation of a task force on ships that the West associates with the Russian Federation.
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Earlier, the US State Department reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz will meet with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Ermak and Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.