Rubio after sanctions against Russia: We would still like meetings for peace

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has stressed that the introduction of the first new sanctions against Russia by President Donald Trump's administration should not come as a surprise and does not mean that Washington is abandoning talks with Moscow.

"I think the president has said repeatedly for a number of months now that at some point he will have to do something if we don't make progress on the peace deal. Today was the day he decided to do something," Rubio said, as quoted by CNN.

Rubio emphasised that the United States remains open to dialogue with Russia.

"We'd still like to meet with the Russians… I had a good call with Foreign Minister Lavrov and we'll follow up on that. We're always going to be interested in engaging if there's an opportunity to achieve peace," he said.

On 22 October, for the first time under Trump's second administration, the United States imposed new large-scale sanctions against Russia, including oil giants Lukoil and Rosneft and their subsidiaries. The sanctions were explained by Moscow's unwillingness to take Trump's peace efforts seriously.

Speaking to reporters, Trump said he had decided to postpone a planned meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Budapest and acknowledged he was disappointed with the pace of talks with Russia.

Media outlets also reported that Trump's administration had lifted a key restriction on Ukraine's use of certain long-range missiles supplied by Western allies. However, Trump called it fake news.

Before that, a series of unofficial signals suggested that the meeting between Trump and Putin in Budapest, agreed during a phone call last week, might not take place as Russia continues to cling to its maximalist demands regarding how the Russo-Ukrainian war should end.