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Asked about how long he anticipated the negotiations to continue, Rubio responded, "I just can't put a timeframe on it because it doesn't depend on us."
"It depends on the Russians and it depends on the Ukrainians. It also depends on our partners in Europe who have sanctions that will have to be taken into account, I believe, as part of any final deal," he said.
The talks are still at the "technical" level, and the US needs to process the outcomes of the meetings in Saudi Arabia before making any decisions on possibly upgrading to a higher-level negotiation, Rubio said.
"We'll meet with the team [of US negotiators] and we'll present that to the President, and then decide on a path of what the next steps are," the diplomat said.
Saudi Arabia hosted meetings between US negotiators with a Russian delegation on Monday and with a Ukrainian delegation on Sunday and Tuesday. On March 25, the Kremlin published a statement on the results of the meeting of the Russian and US delegations. The statement said that both sides had agreed to ensure the implementation of the Black Sea initiative in line with the agreement reached by Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, including by providing security of navigation in the Black Sea, preventing the use of force against commercial vessels and ensuring that commercial vessels are not used for military purposes. The agreement will take effect once several conditions are met, specifically once sanctions are lifted on the Russian Agricultural Bank (Rosselkhozbank).
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