Marco Rubio: one-time Russia hawk makes stunning U-turn under Trump

Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, looked on as Donald Trump demanded more gratitude from the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and accused the embattled leader of “gambling with world war three”.

“You right now are not in a very good position,” Trump chided Zelenskyy during their confrontation in the Oval Office last week.

Throughout the heated exchange, Rubio, who previously ran for president as a staunch Russia hawk, sat silently on a yellow sofa. The image of a sullen Rubio quickly went viral online, with one social media user dubbing him “the corpse on the couch”. One user wondered whether Rubio was “recognizing in real time that he is on the wrong side of history”, while another suggested he was “realizing he sold his soul to the dumbest people on the planet”.

The dynamic even caught the attention of Saturday Night Live, which featured a dour Rubio, played by Marcello Hernández, in its opening sketch last weekend.

“Oh man, look at Rubio over there, fully dissociating,” James Austin Johnson, impersonating Trump, said. “He looks like Homer Simpson disappearing into that hedge.”

It was a stunning display from the man who once attacked Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, as “a gangster”, “a thug” and “a war criminal”. Rubio’s ascension to the top of the state department has seemingly forced him to embrace Trump’s “America first” agenda and abandon his long-documented support of Ukraine.

Here are eight of Rubio’s past comments on Russia and Ukraine to show just how much his position has changed:

March 2014: ‘We have to help the Ukrainian people’

After winning one of Florida’s Senate seats in 2010, Rubio became an outspoken advocate of Ukraine, particularly in the wake of Russia annexing Crimea in 2014.

“I think the first and most important thing we need to do is, we have to help the Ukrainian people and the interim government in Ukraine to protect its nation’s sovereignty,” Rubio said in a Senate floor speech.

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Rubio reminded fellow senators that Ukraine had agreed in 1994 to give up its nuclear arsenal in exchange for a guarantee of its security from the US, the UK and Russia, warning that a refusal to defend Kyiv could prompt other vulnerable countries to reconsider nuclearization.

“I think the message this is sending to many nations around the world is, perhaps we can no longer count on the security promises made by the free world,” Rubio said. “This has implications around the world.”

October 2015: ‘[Putin] will be treated for what he is – a gangster and a thug’

After launching his presidential campaign in 2015, Rubio pitched himself as the strongest candidate on foreign policy and promised he would go toe to toe with Putin once he entered the White House.

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“As soon as I take office, I will move quickly to increase pressure on Moscow,” Rubio said at a campaign stop in Iowa. “Under my administration, there will be no pleadings for meetings with Vladimir Putin. He will be treated for what he is – a gangster and a thug.”

January 2017: ‘Is Vladimir Putin a war criminal?’

After Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, he nominated Rex Tillerson, the former CEO of ExxonMobil, as secretary of state. During Tillerson’s confirmation hearing, Rubio grilled the nominee on his opinion of Putin, making it clear that he would not embrace Trump’s more conciliatory approach to Russia.

“Is Vladimir Putin a war criminal?” Rubio asked Tillerson.

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“I would not use that term,” Tillerson replied.

“It should not be hard to say that Vladimir Putin is a war criminal,” Rubio said, “And I find it discouraging your inability to cite that, which I think is globally accepted.”

March 2022: ‘We will support [Ukrainians] as long as they are willing to fight’

After Russia began its wide-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Rubio called on the Biden administration to deliver a forceful message about its support for Kyiv.

“No matter what, there always has to be a real, legitimate Ukrainian state that we have a relationship with,” Rubio told MSNBC. “And I don’t know why we can’t begin to openly say we will support them as long as they are willing to fight, even if it’s only an insurgency.”

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He also praised the sanctions issued against Russia since the invasion, saying, “I think what’s happened over the last week is really unprecedented. The Russian economy is headed toward collapse.”

May 2024: Rubio attacks ‘tyrant Vladimir Putin, who once again stole an election’

After Trump secured the Republican nomination for the second time in 2024, Rubio appeared to somewhat shift his views on foreign policy. In February 2024, he opposed a foreign aid package that included Ukraine funding because he said the US must secure its southern border before approving more money for Kyiv.

Despite that shift, Rubio still displayed a willingness to call out Putin’s strongman tactics, such as when he issued a “correction” to a Reuters social media post about the Russian president’s most recent swearing-in ceremony last May.

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“Tyrant Vladimir Putin, who once again stole an election, uses his ‘inauguration ceremony’ as propaganda,” Rubio said in response to the post. “Another example of an authoritarian dictator masquerading as a democratically elected leader.”

January 2025: ‘There will have to be concessions made by the Russian Federation, but also by the Ukrainians’

After Trump announced Rubio as his secretary of state nominee in November, the cabinet pick moved quickly to embrace the president-elect’s “America first” worldview. During his confirmation hearing in January, Rubio emphasized that Ukraine must accept “concessions” to bring about an end to the war.

“There will have to be concessions made by the Russian Federation, but also by the Ukrainians and the United States,” Rubio said.

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Rubio, who once vowed to make Putin and his “cronies” feel the heat of “US financial pressure”, also predicted that “sanctions and the release of sanctions” would “have to be part of this conversation in terms of bringing about a … resolution”.

February 2025: ‘I think [Zelenskyy] should apologize for wasting our time’

Despite appearing visibly uncomfortable during Trump’s confrontation with Zelenskyy last week, Rubio defended the president’s behavior and chastised the Ukrainian leader hours after the disastrous meeting.

“There was no need for [Zelenskyy] to go in there and become antagonistic,” Rubio told CNN. “I think he should apologize for wasting our time for a meeting that was gonna end the way it did.”

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When the CNN host Kaitlan Collins reminded Rubio that he once attacked Putin as a “war criminal”, he told her, “At this moment as secretary of state, my job working for the president is to deliver peace, to end this conflict and end this war … I think we should be very proud and happy that we have a president whose prime objective is not to get into wars but to prevent wars and to get out of wars.”

March 2025: ‘It’s a proxy war between nuclear powers’

Rubio further embraced Russia’s view on the war on Wednesday, when he told Fox News, “It’s been very clear from the beginning that Trump views this as a protracted, stalemated conflict. And frankly, it’s a proxy war between nuclear powers – the United States, helping Ukraine, and Russia – and it needs to come to an end.”

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A spokesperson for the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, wholeheartedly agreed with Rubio’s assessment, saying, “It is absolutely in line with the position that our president and foreign minister have repeatedly expressed.”

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Stephen Collopy

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