Almost all ofNATO'sforeign ministers gathered in Brussels on Wednesday, a day afterinconclusive Ukraine peace talksbetween the United States andPresident Vladimir Putin, and as European officials struggled for a seat at the negotiating table.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said that despite the absence of Secretary of State Marco Rubio — believed to be the first time in 22 years that America's top diplomat did not attend a ministerial gathering of this kind — he remained "very much involved" in the process.
Rutte said he was in "constant contact" with Rubio, adding: "I would not read anything in it." When it comes to the NATO elements of any peace deal "that will be dealt with separately, and that obviously will include NATO," he said.
Some European nations have expressed extreme disquiet at being apparently sidelined in talks.
"For any plan to work, it needs Ukrainians and Europeans on board," the E.U.'s chief diplomat, Kaja Kallas, told reporters last month.
Lithuania's national security adviser, Kęstutis Budrys, told journalists in Brussels last month that Europe's security "must not be discussed without Europe."
Russia wanted "to push out Americans from Europe, and to review the security architecture" on the continent, he added.
Lithuania sits between the Russian territory of Kaliningrad and staunch Kremlin ally Belarus, and was occupied by the Soviet Union until the end of Communism in 1990. It and fellow Baltic states of Latvia and Estonia have long feared an emboldened Russia.
European leaders were also blindsided byPresident Donald Trump's 28-point plan last month,which was seen as leaving not just Ukraine, but also the whole continent vulnerable.
Despite Rutte's conciliatory comments, Rubio's absence from the summit was "unusual," according to William Alberque, NATO's former arms control director. The last time he could remember such an absence was Colin Powell in 2003, attributed to the start of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
When asked why Rubio would not meet with NATO allies, especially during these ongoing Ukraine war negotiations, a senior State Department official told NBC News that he "has already attended dozens of meetings with NATO allies and it would be completely impractical to expect him at every meeting."
Despite being sidelined in discussions between Moscow and Washington, European leaders could still have "a direct impact on the talks" and "continue to guide the process," Alberque said.
He added, "it may seem that the Europeans are powerless in the face of Trump's style of leadership," but "we already have seen the so-called 'peace plan' change radically over the past days, with Ukrainian and European concerns increasingly reflected."
Before meeting with Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner on Tuesday, Putin launched into a tirade against Europe, criticizing European leaders for hindering Trump's peace efforts from which, he said, Europe has removed itself. Russia has no intention of going to war with European countries, he told reporters, but if Europe starts a war, there can be no doubt about Russia's readiness to respond "right now."
Stefan Wolff, professor of international security at England's University of Birmingham, said Putin's rhetoric was part of the Russian narrative that Europe is undermining Trump's efforts to end the war, and if it weren't for European obstruction, then a deal would long have been done.
"That is probably true, but it's a good thing, because any such deal would be bad for Ukraine, bad for Europe, and ultimately bad for the U.S.," he added.
There was no real expectation of a breakthrough heading into the talks in Moscow, as the Kremlin did not show any intention ofeasing off on its hard-line demands.
Still, Moscow called the five-hour conversation "useful" and said some points could be agreed on, while others were viewed "negatively" by Putin. The parties also discussed the issue of territories — a key and very sensitive point for Ukraine — and that some American proposals on that looked "more or less acceptable" to the Kremlin. Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday the talks were the first such "direct exchange of opinions," adding that Putin did not reject the U.S. plan.
Also on Wednesday, Ukraine's foreign minister Andriy Sybiha said the U.S. team had invited the Ukrainian delegation to "continue our talks in America in the near future."
