Sit-down between top diplomats is off.
The EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas will not meet U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio during her visit to Washington “due to scheduling issues,” according to a European Commission spokesperson.
“High Representative/Vice-President Kaja Kallas is visiting Washington D.C. on 26 and 27 February. She will meet with U.S. senators and congressmen to discuss Russia’s war against Ukraine and the transatlantic relationship,” the spokesperson said.
Kallas had also been expected to meet Rubio during her time in Washington to discuss efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war, amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent push for negotiations with Moscow. The two top diplomats last met during the Munich Security Conference earlier in February. However, the Washington meeting will now not take place.
It “seems that the Trump administration doesn’t miss a chance to show that for them the EU is not a player,” an EU diplomat commented on the canceled meeting.
The former Estonian prime minister has been critical of the new U.S. administration’s handling of the war in Ukraine, denouncing Trump’s call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin as a form of “appeasement.”
