The Secretary of the American State Department, Marco Rubio, has confirmed upon his arrival this Thursday in the Turkish city of Antalya that will “encourage” the NATO partners to move forward with the plan of President Donald Trump to bring the expense in defense to 5 percent of GDP.
“We arrive in Turkey to encourage NATO allies to increase the defense spending to five percent of their GDP,” he said in his X account, in a message in which he has reiterated of it is the time that the “words are translated into facts” and all the members of the United States “intensify their efforts.”
Rubio has also been able to meet before with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Andri Sibiga, in a meeting in which the Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has also been present, one of the architects of an important sanctions package that aims at Russia if you do not feel to negotiate peace.
Sibiga has highlighted the importance of this week for the near future of the conflict in Ukraine, once it has been confirmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not go to Istanbul’s conversations, which for kyiv is a symptom that he is not willing to sit down to truly negotiate the end of the war.
“It is extremely important that Russia responds reciprocally to the constructive steps of Ukraine. Until now it has not done so. Moscow must realize that denying peace has a price,” said Sibiga.
For his part, NATO general secretary, Mark Rutte, has been “cautious” in the face of the future of this meeting in Istanbul, whose relevance passes, as valued, by the level of those who participate in the Russian delegation.
“It is evident that Ukraine is willing to stop the fire and negotiate immediately. It is totally understandable. Now the ball is on the roof of Russia. They must explain what they do, why they are here or why not, with which team and everything else,” Routte said in statements to the press.
“The Russians must also do their part to obtain results in the coming weeks. So I am cautiously optimistic about it,” said moments before the informal meeting this Thursday in the city of Antalya, in which NATO’s exterior chiefs participate.