U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio plans to skip a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels next week, Reuters news agency reported, citing two U.S. officials.
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau will represent Washington instead, said one of the officials, who requested anonymity to discuss matters that have not yet been made public.
It was unclear why Rubio planned to skip the December 3 meeting, and his plans could change. But his likely no-show comes when U.S. and Ukrainian officials have been scrambling to narrow gaps over President Donald Trump’s plan to end the war in Ukraine, with some European diplomats complaining they are being cut out of the process, according to Reuters.
There are usually two formal NATO meetings of foreign ministers per year, and it is exceedingly rare for a U.S. secretary of state to be absent. In 2017, during Trump’s first term, then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson initially planned to skip an April meeting, though the gathering was then rescheduled to accommodate his schedule.
A State Department spokesperson declined to comment on Rubio’s potential absence, but said the NATO alliance had been “completely revitalized” during the Trump administration and noted that Rubio met with several European officials recently in Switzerland.
“Secretary Rubio also meets with and talks to NATO allies regularly, including last weekend in Geneva,” the spokesperson said.
