Rubio’s Skepticism of Russian Spin Spurred US Shift on Putin

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, left, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio chat at a US-Russia summit on Ukraine at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on Aug. 15, 2025.Photographer: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

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By Natalia Drozdiak, Alex Wickham, Alberto Nardelli, and Eric Martin

October 24, 2025 at 1:02 PM UTC

For months, President Donald Trump resisted calls to slap new sanctions on Russia, believing he could end the war in a deal with Vladimir Putin — including with a quick peace summit in the coming weeks in Budapest.

In a dramatic reversal this week, Trump canceled those plans and then went a step further, imposing the first direct sanctions on Moscow of his second term. “It was time,” Trump said.