Sudden trips and security lapses: Steve Witkoff and Marco Rubio's clashing diplomacy on Russia-Ukraine

The wedding ceremony was scheduled to kick off at 3 p.m. at a lavish 56-acre estate in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Seated in the audience on that November afternoon was a high-profile guest, Secretary of State Marco Rubio , who may have had other things on his mind. Marco Rubio next to Steve Witkoff in Geneva on Nov. 23.Fabrice Coffrini / AFP - Getty Images file French President Emmanuel Macron shakes hands with Rubio next to Witkoff in Paris on April 17.Ludovic Marin / Pool / AFP via Getty Images file Over the past 48 hours, Rubio had been grappling with a snowballing diplomatic crisis after the leak of a U.S.-backed peace plan spearheaded by President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, that was seen as tilting heavily in favor of Russia over Ukraine. Now Rubio, among the crowd at the black-tie affair where his two daughters were bridesmaids, was dealing with a different headache caused by the same man, according to a U.S. official. Rubio was scheduled to attend peace talks with Ukrainian officials in Switzerland, but Witkoff had set off early in what some officials saw as a bid to beat him to the punch, according to two U.S. officials and a person familiar with the episode. Witkoff did not communicate his travel plans to Rubio and other State Department officials, the three sources said, in what they perceived as a move to allow Witkoff to negotiate with Ukraine in a way he saw fit. Rubio ultimately made it to Geneva, ensuring that Witkoff would not be meeting the Ukrainian officials without him, according to the three sources. It was not the first time U.S. officials had seen Witkoff’s actions as an attempt to make an end-run around Rubio. The episode, which has not been previously reported, was the latest example of a long-running rift between the two senior figures in the Trump administration with sharply different views about how to end the war in Ukraine and how much the U.S. should trust Russia’s promises. “They seem to be singing off of a different sheet of music,” said Alexander Vershbow, a former career diplomat who was ambassador to NATO. “And if you don’t have a common understanding of the problems and of your adversary in a negotiation, it can’t be good.” Eager to strike a quick deal as ordered by Trump, Witkoff has pushed for proposals that put the onus on Ukraine to make concessions, give up territory and accept risks to its future security. Rubio and some other officials in the administration favor imposing more economic and military pressure on Russia to force Russian President Vladimir Putin to make concessions and allow a secure future for Ukraine, a view shared by America’s European allies. This account is based on interviews with more than a dozen current and former U.S. and European officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive events. State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott pushed back on the suggestion that Rubio and Witkoff were not...

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