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Russia Says It Welcomes Trump's Readiness to Solve Problems through Dialogue

File photo: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Moscow, Russia December 7, 2023. Sergei Bobylev, Reuters via Sputnik
File photo: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Moscow, Russia December 7, 2023. Sergei Bobylev, Reuters via Sputnik
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Russia Says It Welcomes Trump's Readiness to Solve Problems through Dialogue

File photo: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Moscow, Russia December 7, 2023. Sergei Bobylev, Reuters via Sputnik
File photo: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Moscow, Russia December 7, 2023. Sergei Bobylev, Reuters via Sputnik

Russia welcomes the stated willingness of US President-elect Donald Trump to resolve problems through dialogue, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday, reaffirming Russian President Vladimir Putin's readiness for talks with Trump.
There may be progress on setting up a meeting between Trump and Putin after Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20, Peskov told reporters. Trump said on Thursday a meeting was being set up between him and Putin, but offered no timeline.
Trump said repeatedly during his election campaign that he could end the Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours, but he and advisers have suggested more recently that it could be resolved within months of him taking office.
His impending return to the White House has sparked hope of a diplomatic resolution, but it has also led to fears in Kyiv that a quick peace deal could come at a high price for Ukraine.
Peskov said Putin had repeatedly stated his willingness to hold talks with international leaders, including Trump.
"No conditions are required for this, (only) a mutual desire and political will to conduct a dialogue and resolve existing problems through dialogue is required," he said.
"We see that Mr. Trump also declares his readiness to resolve problems through dialogue, we welcome this."
Peskov said there were no specific plans for a meeting yet, but that Russia was working on the assumption that both sides were open to it. "Apparently, after Mr. Trump enters the Oval Office, there will be some movement."
Trump said on Thursday: "President Putin wants to meet. He has said that even publicly and we have to get that war over with. That's a bloody mess."
Advisers to Trump have floated proposals to end the war that would effectively cede large parts of the country to Russia for the foreseeable future.
Peskov said Russia's position was consistent as laid out by Putin last June. Putin said then that Russia was willing to end the war if Ukraine renounced its NATO membership ambitions and withdrew entirely from four regions that Russia partly controls and has claimed as its own.
Kyiv rejected that as tantamount to surrender.
While speaking positively of Trump, Peskov was highly critical of outgoing President Joe Biden.
He said the Biden administration, in its final 10 days, "intends to continue doing everything to continue the war", including possible new sanctions against Russia.
"We are aware that the administration will certainly try to leave the most burdensome legacy in terms of bilateral relations for the incoming Trump and his associates," said Peskov.

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Rubio Vows to Place US Interests ‘Above All Else’ as Trump’s Top Diplomat

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., President-elect Donald Trump's choice to be Secretary of State, appears before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for his confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP)
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., President-elect Donald Trump's choice to be Secretary of State, appears before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for his confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP)
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Rubio Vows to Place US Interests ‘Above All Else’ as Trump’s Top Diplomat

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., President-elect Donald Trump's choice to be Secretary of State, appears before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for his confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP)
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., President-elect Donald Trump's choice to be Secretary of State, appears before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for his confirmation hearing, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP)

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio promised on Wednesday to implement President-elect Donald Trump’s "America First" vision as secretary of state, vowing in his confirmation hearing that the incoming administration will forge a new path by placing American interests "above all else."

"Placing our core national interests above all else is not isolationism," Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. "It is the commonsense realization that a foreign policy centered on our national interest is not some outdated relic."

"The postwar global order is not just obsolete; it is now a weapon being used against us," Rubio said.

It's a remarkable opening salvo from Rubio, who was born in Miami to Cuban immigrants and who, if confirmed, would become the first Latino to serve as the nation’s top diplomat.

The confirmation hearing begins a new chapter in the political career of the 53-year-old Florida Republican, whose relationship with Trump has evolved over the last decade. Once rivals trading schoolyard insults as they campaigned for president in 2016, the two men became close allies as Trump campaigned for another White House term last year.

Rubio first came to Washington as part of the "tea party" wave in 2010 and once advocated for allowing a path to citizenship for immigrants in the country illegally. But like other Republicans, Rubio's views on immigration have shifted toward the hard-line stance of Trump, who has pledged to aggressively pursue deportations once he takes office on Monday.

Unlike many of Trump's Cabinet selections, Rubio is expected to easily win confirmation, notching support not only from Republicans but also Democrats who endorse him as a "responsible" pick to represent the US abroad. Many expect he will be among the first of Trump's Cabinet picks approved.

Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz, who served alongside Rubio on the Foreign Relations Committee, said he has high hopes that the Florida Republican will reject the isolationist approach of other Trump allies.

"I think Marco is a hawk, but he’s also an internationalist, and I think the challenge for him will be to maintain the long bipartisan tradition of America being indispensable in world affairs," the Hawaii lawmaker told The Associated Press. "And there are people in the Trump world who want us to run away from being the leaders of the free world. And I’m hoping that Marco’s instincts towards American strength will win the day."

Rubio's approach to foreign affairs is grounded in his years of service on the Foreign Relations committee and the Senate Intelligence panel. In his speeches and writings, he's delivered increasingly stern warnings about growing military and economic threats to the United States, particularly from China, which he says has benefited from a "global world order" that he characterizes as obsolete.

China, Rubio told the committee, has "lied, cheated, hacked, and stolen their way to global superpower status, at our expense."

The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Wednesday declined to comment on Rubio's remarks.

If confirmed, Rubio will become the leader of US foreign policy — though his role will surely remain secondary to Trump, who relishes the global stage and frequently uses the bully pulpit against America's allies.

Even before taking office, Trump has stirred angst in foreign capitals by threatening to seize the Panama Canal and Greenland and suggesting he will pressure Canada to become the nation’s 51st state.

By winning another term, Trump has won an "unmistakable mandate from the voters," Rubio will say.

"They want a strong America. Engaged in the world. But guided by a clear objective, to promote peace abroad, and security and prosperity here at home."

A Biden administration decision to rescind Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism with just days left in office is likely to irk Rubio, who has long supported tough sanctions on the communist-run island.

Rubio’s office did not respond to multiple queries Tuesday about the senator’s reaction to the move, which many believe will almost certainly be reversed by the Trump administration.

Secretaries of state have played a key role in formulating the foreign policy of the country since its founding, starting with the first one, Thomas Jefferson, who served in the top Cabinet position under President George Washington.

Since then, Jefferson, as well as his 19th century successors James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren and James Buchanan, have all gone on to be elected president.

More recent secretaries of state have been less successful in their political ambitions, including John Kerry, who lost the 2004 presidential election to President George W. Bush before becoming the top diplomat, and Hillary Clinton, who lost the 2016 election to Trump.

The most successful secretaries of state have been known for their closeness to the presidents whom they serve, notably James Baker under George H.W. Bush, Condoleezza Rice under George W. Bush and, to some extent, Clinton under Barack Obama.

Like Clinton, Rubio was once a political rival to the president-elect who nominated them. However, the Clinton-Obama relationship during the 2008 Democratic primaries was not nearly as hostile as that between Trump and Rubio in the 2016 GOP primaries, which was marked by name-calling and personal insults.

Trump had an acrimonious relationship with his first secretary of state, Rex Tillerson. Trump fired him from the position via a social media post less than two years into his term.