Putin, Rubio, and Europe: Munich Security Conference Highlights

During a conversation with reporters, he also commented on the appointment of Vladimir Medinsky as head of the Russian delegation at trilateral peace talks.

In previous rounds of negotiations, which took place in January and February in Abu Dhabi, the Russian negotiating team was led by GRU chief Igor Kostyukov.

Medinsky is an adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He was the head of the Russian delegation at several previous rounds of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations, where the atmosphere was described as less constructive.

“The surprise is that the Russians changed the leader of their group. I think they want to delay making a decision. But perhaps I’m a little pessimistic about this,” Zelensky told reporters on Saturday (quoted by Interfax-Ukraine).

At the same time, the President of Ukraine expressed the hope that “the Americans will not allow the Russians to play with us in this way.”

“It seems that Zelensky’s expectations from this process are minimal: according to him, each of the parties speaks at the meetings about something different: Ukraine – about a decent peace, Russia – about some kind of spirit of Anchorage, which is unclear in what, America – about concessions that for some reason only Ukraine should make,” BBC correspondent at the Munich conference Svyatoslav Khomenko describes this part of Zelensky’s speech.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a speech in Munich and then in interview with Bloomberg said the United States does not yet know whether Russia is serious about ending the war or whether a peace agreement will ultimately be reached.

But the United States, as Rubio assured, will continue to pursue it – at the same time helping Ukraine and putting sanctions on Russia.

The main figures of European politics – the Chancellor of Germany, the President of France, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, the head of the European Commission – took turns again in Munich to say that Europe, in light of the new US course, must urgently strengthen its military power, prepare for defense against Russia and take its destiny into its own hands.

“No one forced us into this over-dependence on the United States, in which we have recently found ourselves. We ourselves are to blame for this immaturity. But we are already leaving this situation behind […] Moreover, we are doing this without writing off NATO as scrap, we are doing this in our own interests by building a strong, self-sufficient European base within the alliance,” said German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

“In an era of great power competition, even the United States is not strong enough to go it alone,” Mertz continued. — Dear friends, NATO membership is a competitive advantage not only for Europe, it is a competitive advantage for the United States as well. So let’s work together to restore transatlantic mutual trust. We Europeans are doing this for our part.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in Munich that Russia, by attacking Ukraine, has again shown that it is prone to aggression, and Europe must urgently and jointly prepare to counter the Russian threat.

“Time after time, world leaders have turned away [от конфликта в другой стране]arming themselves again only when there was a direct threat to us with them. We must do things differently this time,” Starmer urged.

He emphasized that even if peace is concluded in Ukraine, Europe will not be completely safe – on the contrary, there will be more threats.

Starmer called Europe a “sleeping giant,” noting that its economy is more than 10 times stronger than Russia’s. However, he noted, Europe is too fragmented and at times ineffective.

“We must increase our hard power because this is the need of the hour,” Starmer said and called, in particular, for the creation, together with the European Union, from which Britain left, of a single European military-industrial base for this “hard power.”

French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking in Munich on Friday, said the same thing as Starmer: even peace in Ukraine will not give Europe any reason to relax.

“If we reach a settlement on Ukraine, we will still have to deal with an aggressive Russia, a vibrant defense industry and a bloated army,” Macron said.

According to the French president, while the parties to the war are discussing a hypothetical peace agreement with the participation of the United States, the West should increase pressure on Russia rather than give in to its demands – as Russia itself increases attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.

Macron said Europe “must learn how to become a geopolitical power.” Making it clear that the United States could no longer be counted on for defense, he said European countries must acquire all the qualities of such a force: “in defense, in technology and in risk management.”

Macron also said that he had begun consultations with the German Chancellor on the formation of a European nuclear “umbrella” based on French nuclear forces. Friedrich Merz later confirmed Macron’s words in his speech.

At the same time, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told reporters that although France and Britain, as two European nuclear powers, are discussing how to increase the role of their nuclear forces in the defense of Europe, no one in Europe is saying that their forces can replace the American nuclear umbrella.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio played the role of a “good cop” in Munich. “Evil” was Vice President J.D. Vance last year, who accused Europe of destroying its culture and identity by allowing mass immigration and restricting freedom of speech.

“At a time when news headlines proclaim the end of the transatlantic era, let it be known that this is not what we want or strive for, because even though we Americans have our home in the Western Hemisphere, we are still children of Europe. We, the United States and Europe, must be together,” Rubio said – and the audience gave him a standing ovation.

At the same time, Rubio repeated in a speech to European leaders his reproach for condoning mass immigration, as well as destroying his own industry.

As AFP reports, he also called on Europe to join Donald Trump in his quest to “renew the world.” “This will allow us to restore [наше] place in the world and thus repel the forces that seek to destroy civilization and threaten both America and Europe,” said the US Secretary of State.

German Foreign Minister Johan Wadeful called Rubio’s speech a good sign, noting that the secretary of state emphasized what Europe and America together were able to achieve in the past and what they can achieve in the future.

As world agencies report, this, according to Wadeful, may indicate that the United States and Europe will be able to restore relations and cooperate fruitfully in the future. But with Washington’s current course, as the German minister noted, the situation remains very uncertain.

Many European politicians were not convinced by Rubio’s tone.

“I’m not sure that Europeans consider the main unifying interest to be the stated decline of civilization, supposedly caused by mass migration and deindustrialization. For most Europeans, the common interest is security,” former Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis wrote on Network X.

“This was not a departure from the general position of the administration [Трампа]. It was just stated in more polite terms,” concluded the Lithuanian politician.