Kaja Kallas meeting with Marco Rubio cancelled due to scheduling issues

The meeting between High Representative Kaja Kallas and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been cancelled and will not take place during her official visit to Washington.

The High Representative “will not meet Secretary of State Marco Rubio on this occasion due to scheduling issues. They last met during the Munich Security Conference,” her spokesperson told Euronews.

The encounter had been pencilled for Wednesday, with news agencies expecting images from the bilateral talks. Kallas will still hold meetings with representatives from the US Congress and Senate to discuss Russia’s war against Ukraine and the transatlantic relationship, the spokesperson added.

Kallas had flown to the American capital with the expectation to sit down with her counterpart and talk about Donald Trump’s push to launch negotiations with Russia and Ukraine, which has rattled European allies for its one-sided, uncoordinated nature

The High Representative has been critical of the White House’s approach, describing the concessions offered to the Kremlin as a form of “appeasement” and calling for both Ukraine and Europe to be closely involved in the nascent diplomatic process

“I have been very clear that no deal without us, without Ukraine or without Europe will work in practice – and that is for the United States, which also needs to work with us,” Kallas said on Monday, announcing the meeting with Secretary Rubio.

“A bad deal for Ukraine is a bad deal for Europe but it is also a bad deal for America

The State Department did not immediately reply to a Euronews request for comment. Rubio’s public calendar for 26 February does not feature Kallas as an item.

Since Trump’s inauguration, the High Representative has held several phone calls with the Secretary. The two spoke on 18 February after Rubio met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who is under EU sanctions, in Saudi Arabia as part of the negotiations.

“Russia will try to divide us. Let’s not walk into their traps,” Kallas said after the call.

According to the New York Times, Rubio tried to reassure European allies by telling them the talks in Riyadh were supposed to test the Kremlin’s seriousness and did not represent an abrupt departure from long-standing US policy

But Rubio’s good intentions came undone when Trump lashed out at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy, calling him a “dictator without elections”, and blaming the invasion on Ukraine, rather than Russia.

On Monday, the same day the war turned three years, the US joined Russia in voting against a United Nations resolution that condemned Russia’s aggression, further highlighting the pivot in the White House’s thinking.

This article has been updated with more information.