WASHINGTON DC – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio faced fresh criticism from lawmakers on Wednesday as he steered clear of calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a “war criminal,” signaling that it could undermine President Donald Trump’s efforts to negotiate an end to the conflict.
“We can’t end the war without talking to Mr. Putin,” Rubio argued during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the State Department’s budget when pressed multiple times if he thought the Russian leader was a war criminal.
Democrat Bill Keating (D-MA) recalled Rubio’s heated criticism of Putin’s record when the top US diplomat had served as a senator, and accused him of being “inconsistent.”
In 2017, when Rubio was a sitting senator, he asked then-Secretary of State nominee Rex Tillerson the exact same question and blasted Donald Trump’s pick for the top diplomat position for refusing to call Putin a war criminal.
“Is he a war criminal?” Keating asked about Putin turning the table on Rubio himself.
“Crimes have been committed in the war on Ukraine, and there will be accountability for that, but our goal right now is to end that war,” Rubio said in response.
“We can’t end the war without talking to Mr. Putin,” he added.
The flashpoint continued to escalate with Keating arguing the question was “pretty simple” adding that Rubio “won’t answer the question.”
“I’m trying to answer your question by telling you we’re trying to end the war here,” Rubio exasperatedly responded.
When the top diplomat said he was not given a chance to answer and accused Keating of putting words in his mouth, the congressman shot back again, “Is Putin a war criminal?”
“I have already told you war crimes have been committed,” Rubio stated as Keating cut him off to highlight he did not call Putin a war criminal.
Rubio later responded to another Congressman Mike Quigley (D-IL) during the House Appropriation hearing, comparing Washington’s position to the Vatican’s role in peace negotiations, stressing the need to talk to both sides to have any hope of achieving peace.
“There’s a lot of pressure on the Vatican to condemn the Russians for their [crimes] but the way the Vatican is viewing it – it is unless we’re able to talk to both sides, we have no hope whatsoever of trying to force a negative,” Rubio said.
Quigley pushed back expressing concern that Russia’s aggression is not being adequately addressed and that Putin is not being held accountable for war crimes.
He also criticizes the administration’s approach, suggesting it lacks the necessary firmness to deter Putin. “Aggressors and tyrants like Putin aren’t going to listen to goodwill,” he warned.
Republican congressman Chuck Edwards (R-NC), vice-chair of the House Appropriation Committee, also weighed in later saying that “there’s no question” Putin is the aggressor.
“He has committed atrocities beyond the comprehension of most average Americans,” he said. “I would urge you and the President to continue applying the sanctions that we have available to us,” he told Rubio.
Putin has been facing an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court over the transfer of Ukrainian children from Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine into Russia.
Rubio, who has defended the Trump administration’s Ukraine policy on Capitol Hill during several hearings this week, insisted earlier that Putin had gotten ‘no concessions’, and that Trump thought threatening sanctions would only cause the Russians to stop talking.
“It’s crucial to maintain dialogue and compel them to come to the negotiating table,” he told lawmakers.
Early this month, Trump’s another cabinet member – Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called Putin a “war criminal” as lawmakers pressed him on the administration’s policy to push Ukraine into dialogue with the Russian leader.