Kaja Kallas and Marco Rubio had a moment of tension this Friday, March 27th, during the G7 meeting, when the head of European Union diplomacy asked the US Secretary of State when the United States would adopt a firmer stance towards Russia, according to the report. Axios and the Corriere della Sera.
The tense exchange of words, which took place before the foreign ministers of allied countries in France, is symptomatic of the mutual distrust between the United States and its European allies regarding the war in Ukraine.
Kallas criticized the US for not increasing pressure on Moscow and recalled that Rubio, a year earlier at the same forum, had stated that if Russia hindered US efforts to end the war, the US would lose patience and take more drastic measures against the Kremlin.
“A year has passed and Russia hasn’t moved. When will your patience run out?” Kallas reportedly asked Rubio, who was visibly irritated.
“We are doing our best to end the war. If you think you can do better, feel free. We will withdraw”, countered the American, who highlighted that the United States was talking to both sides, but that it was helping only one of them, Ukraine, by sending weapons, intelligence services and other types of support.
After the heated exchange, several European ministers intervened to say they still wanted the US to pursue diplomacy between Russia and Ukraine.
At the end of the meeting, calmer, Rubio and Kallas spoke in private.
The United States Secretary of State denied, in an informal conversation with journalists, that there had been any tension. “These meetings are often about thanking the United States for the role we played… and about recognizing the mediating role we tried to play in this war between Russia and Ukraine. No one there shouts, raises their voice or says anything negative,” he said.
European leaders have been anxious about peace talks between Ukraine and Russia led by the United States for many months, an anxiety that increased with the outbreak of war in Iran, especially after the United States granted exemptions to allow the sale of Russian oil, now at increasingly high prices.
Last weekend, a high-level Ukrainian delegation visited Miami and met with Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to discuss the peace process, but left the Florida city saying that no significant progress had been made.
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