Washington, (thestates.news)| NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has said that the current American impression is that Russia “is not moving fast enough” to end its war with Ukraine, adding that the United States “must do more” to facilitate the war’s end. Stating that it’s now up to Moscow to end all hostilities, Rutte stated: “The ball clearly is in the court of the Russians.”
He added: “They are not moving fast enough, is my impression — including the impression I’m getting from my American interlocutors, that — that Russia really has to do more to bring this war to an end,” according to CBS News. Speaking to CBS, Rutte said that NATO and its allies are in lockstep on countering Russia and are working in tandem to secure an end to the war in Ukraine.
Since the coming of the Trump administration, the US’ ties with Russia have improved considerably, as President Donald Trump had earlier said that his counterpart President Vladimir Putin was open to peace talks while having also criticised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for “gambling with World War III” during their meeting in March.
Lauding the White House for trying to “break the deadlock” in Ukraine, Rutte said: “I spoke with (US Secretary of State) Marco Rubio, I’m in regular contact with the other members of the American administration. I think you guys are really trying, step-by-step, to get to a situation where this war can end,” while questioning Moscow’s commitment to a peace process.
“Russians also have to dance the tango, and at this moment they don’t seem to do so,” Rutte said, while the Ukrainians “are really close to the American position.”Having its own reservations as of now, Russia has not yet agreed to a full 30-day ceasefire proposed by the US and has said there are still outstanding issues that must be resolved first.
Rubio, who is attending a NATO conference in Brussels, told reporters on April 4, “We will know from their answers very soon whether they are serious about proceeding with real peace or whether it’s a delay tactic. Now we’ve reached the stage where we need to make progress.” Rutte said it was President Trump’s inauguration that kickstarted the peace process, adding that “until January this year, nothing happened when it came to bringing this war to an end.” Currently, both sides are engaged with Washington in working out the details to come up with a plausible solution to bring about a partial ceasefire. (S-UNI)
NATO Secy Gen Mark Rutte says Russia ‘not moving fast enough’ to end Ukraine war
