Secretary of State Marco Remarks to the Press

QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary, is it your assessment that Russia does not really want peace?

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, we can only go by what we see.  I mean, I think they’ve stated clearly what they want is they want the rest of Donetsk, and obviously the Ukrainians aren’t going to agree to that.  So what we see now is they continue long-range strikes into Ukraine, obviously to degrade their electrical grid and try to demoralize the country or what have you, and they’ve made some gains in Donetsk.  And they’re losing 7,000 soldiers a week – 7,000 dead soldiers a week from Russia, so – so as of now, I mean, that’s the assessment we have to make.  They’ve made a demand that Ukraine can’t agree to, and so that’s sort of where we are at this point.

QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary —

QUESTION:  You didn’t have any deliverables to bring from Washington on the Ukraine issue – is that correct?  Or did you?

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, I mean, the President’s done the sanctions, which is what they asked him to do, so that happened very recently.  But as far as deliverables, we continue to do what we’ve been doing, plus now the new sanctions.

QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary, I was told by the European representative on foreign policy, Kaja Kallas, that it was discussed – the Venezuela military operations were discussed, the Caribbean.

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Not with me.  No one raised it.  I mean, no one in the meeting raised it, in any —

QUESTION:  But it was raised in meetings —

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Not with me.  They didn’t raise it with me.  They may have raised it among themselves, but they – and they all came now from CELAC or whatever they were at.  But it didn’t come up once in any of the gatherings that we had either last night or today.

QUESTION:  Sorry, to be clear —

QUESTION:  Let me ask – well, let me ask you about that.  She told me that they discussed the legality and that there are two reasons why an operation would be legal: self-defense and a UN resolution; that neither of those applied in this case; that they are all struggling with the drug issue and that they should discuss whether international law needs to be updated.  So let me ask you about that.

SECRETARY RUBIO:  I don’t think that the European Union gets to determine what international law is, and what they certainly don’t get to determine is how the United States defends its national security.  The United States is under attack from organized criminal narco-terrorists in our hemisphere, and the President is responding in the defense of our country.

I do find it interesting that all of these countries want us to send and supply, for example, nuclear-capable Tomahawk missiles to defend Europe, but when the United States positions aircraft carriers in our hemisphere where we live, somehow that’s a problem.  So I would say that the United States is – and this President has made very clear his job is to protect the United States from threats against the United States, and that is what he’s doing in this operation.

QUESTION:  And Canada’s foreign minister says that they have been assured that the U.S. is using its own intelligence and that the Canadian intelligence is not being used.  We’ve been told – or there are reports, rather – that the UK is not sharing targeting intelligence.

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Yeah, a couple points.  The United States – there’s reasons why we have those assets in the region, and that is to collect intelligence, and we’re actioning on that.  Obviously, I won’t go any deeper when it comes to intelligence matters.  I did see a CNN report yesterday – I’m not going to go into great detail other than to say that it’s a false story.  It’s a fake story.  And what’s happening now is people with a business card that has a government email on it become sources because they don’t know – they’re not even in the know, so they either have an agenda or they want to make themselves important, and it’s been a plague of story after story that’s either inaccurate or misleading, and that falls in the category of both, that story does.

But again, going back, look, this is a counter-drug operation.  The President’s ordered it in defense of our country.  It continues.  It’s ongoing.  It can stop tomorrow if they start – stop sending drug boats.  The Maduro regime is a narco-terrorist regime, indicted in the Southern District of the United States for narco-terrorism, but more importantly they’re also a transshipment organization that allows these groups to operate from their national territory.  They allow drugs to be shipped.  They openly cooperate with the shipping of these drugs towards the United States and Europe, by the way, so maybe they should be thanking us.

But the bottom line here is that the President is going to defend the national interests and the national security of the United States, which is under threat by these terrorist organizations.

QUESTION:  Secretary, you met with your Saudi counterpart today.  Can you talk about what is being discussed in preparation for MBS visit to the White House next week?  And will the Saudis get a security deal that is better than the deal that Qatar previously got?

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, we’re still working through all that.  I mean, obviously, all that will be announced just prior to or during the visit.  But we’ll have some good agreements to sign with them.  A lot of progress has been made since the President’s visit there, so we’re working through that.  I feel good about where it’s at.  There’s still a few things that need to be tightened up and finalized, and we’re going to have a good meeting next week.

QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary?

QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary, I’d like to go to another region – apologize for that.

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Which one?

QUESTION:  Sudan.

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Oh, yeah.  It’s terrible.

QUESTION:  Exactly, and I saw the communique that the G7 put out today.  I mean, what is your take?  Is there anything that can be done right now?  Because the situation —

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Unlike the Caribbean, which anybody who told you that was discussed is not being honest with you – not a single person brought it up in any of those – and we had three meetings with the whole group of four – that was discussed, and we’re very concerned.  As you know, we’ve been sponsoring this Quad initiative along with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates, and I think the fundamental problem we have is that the RSF agrees to things and then never – never follows through with it, so now what you have is a calamity on your hands.

And so we’ve – I had meetings on this yesterday.  We discussed it multiple times with multiple countries today, and I think something needs to be done to cut off the weapons and the support that the RSF is getting as they continue with their advances.  I think it’s telling – the humanitarian groups are telling us that some of the levels of malnutrition and suffering that they’re seeing from some of these people who have been able to flee is unprecedented, they’ve said.  They’ve recorded things they’ve never recorded before, and I think even more troubling is that they didn’t have the number of refugees they expected to receive because they assume many of them are either dead or so sick and malnourished they can’t move anymore.  So what’s happening there is horrifying. 

We have worked I think all the way back to July and August on this Quad because there are countries involved in helping these elements on the ground fighting, and we share many of the same concerns that others do about how that could turn into a nest for jihadist and terrorist activity.  But the solution to it is not to fight a war where civilians literally are being targeted for rape, sexual violence, and murder, and that’s what happening.

QUESTION:  But the UAE —

QUESTION:  What’s your assessment on the UAE’s role in this conflict?

QUESTION:  But the UAE is still supplying them with drones, Chinese drones.

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Yeah, so we’re working hard – we know who the parties are that are involved.  These things – that’s why they’re part of the Quad along with other countries involved.  And so I can just tell you at the highest levels of our government that case is being made and that pressure is being applied to the relevant parties.  I don’t want to get into calling anybody out at a press conference today, because what we want is a good outcome here.  This needs to stop.  I mean, they’re clearly receiving assistance from outside that’s allowing them – and clearly that assistance isn’t just coming from some country that’s paying for it.  It’s also coming from countries that are allowing their territory to be used to ship it and transport it.  So that – in order for this to be solved, that needs to be addressed.

I don’t know if you saw the RSF a few days ago agreed to a humanitarian ceasefire, but they don’t intend to comply with it.  And when you raise the issue of these atrocities, they always hide behind the argument that this is rogue elements.  Well, it’s not rogue elements.  It’s – they’re doing it systematically, and it’s something that we have taken very seriously and are doing everything we can to bring the relevant countries to the table to stop it.  It needs to end.

QUESTION:  Would you support the – would you support the Senate push, bipartisan Senate push, to label the RSF either a Foreign Terrorist Organization or SDTG?

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Yeah, I mean, if it would be helpful in bringing this to an end, we would.  I haven’t seen that proposal.  I know some senators discussed it with me months ago.  But in the end, we just want this – this needs to stop.  And I think unfortunately what’s happening here is the RSF has concluded that they’re winning and they want to keep going.  And by going – they’re not just fighting a war, which war alone is bad enough.  They are – they’re committing acts of sexual violence and atrocities, just horrifying atrocities, against women, children, innocent civilians of the most horrific kind.  And it needs to end immediately. 

And we’re going to do everything we can to bring it to an end, and we’ve encouraged partner nations to join us in this fight.  And we’re not going to let the Quad process that we’ve set up be a shield that people hide behind and say, “Well, we’re involved with the Quad.  We’re trying to solve it.”  We need actionable results, and they need to happen very quickly; otherwise, what’s already a travesty is going to get far worse.

QUESTION:  Can I ask you more specifically about your assessment of the scale of the atrocities?  I mean, we heard these reports recently of 460 patients in a hospital, civilians, being killed by the RSF.

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Yeah, those are the ones that can get out.

QUESTION:  Yeah.  I mean, what – do you have an assessment of the scale overall of what’s been committed in El Fasher?

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, I don’t know about numbers.  I can tell you that the one thing that I think was most shocking to us is that they anticipated receiving thousands of refugees, and they didn’t.  So obviously, these aren’t people that are happy living there after a year of siege against the city.  There’s a reason why they didn’t come out.  And we fear that the reason why they didn’t come out is because they’re dead or because they’re so sick and so famished that they can’t move.  So I think it’s even worse – not that refugee flows in crisis is a positive thing, but when the refugees don’t come and you know they would otherwise, you have these suspicions that they’re either dead or about to die.  And that is just what really is weighing on us right now.

QUESTION:  Secretary, back to Ukraine, several allies here announced energy support, fundings and other ways of support to help Ukraine stabilize energy grids.  Was there any specific U.S. commitment on this —

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, we’ve had those conversations with the Ukrainians about what they need, and I know that’s ongoing.  And clearly, helping them survive the winter is important just from – on a humanitarian ground.  The challenge is that Ukraine’s energy grid has been diminished each year, so each year they start at a lower baseline than the year before.  And now I think in Kyiv, for example, upwards of 50 to 60 percent of the day is spent without electrical power.  And they’ve done a tremendous job of sort of rerouting their grid and trying to work around it, but that also means there are hours of the day when you can’t – there’s no water.  There’s no electricity.  You have to schedule business and life activities around that.  And that’s clearly part of Russia’s strategy, is to try to collapse morale within Ukraine and the will to fight.

So we’ve – that’s why we’ve been in discussions with them about defensive weapons to be able to protect their grid.  And I know we’ve been in ongoing technical conversations about the specific equipment they need.  But ultimately, if that equipment is ultimately destroyed a week later after it’s installed, that remains a problem.  And that’s been the history of the last two or three years.

QUESTION:  Can I go back to try to take another stab at the Venezuela intel thing?  And I’ll try to keep this from being a hypothetical.  Do you think that you, the United States, needs anyone else’s help on intel to continue to do what you’re doing?

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, let me – I’ll say this to you.  Again, and when I talk about intel matters, I just don’t comment on them broadly.  Suffice it to say that there’s a reason why we have assets in the region.  Those assets do, among other things, collect intelligence.  We’re very confident in the intelligence we have.  And nothing has happened.  Nothing has happened in this entire process that has impeded our ability to identify drug boats and strike them.

QUESTION:  Without getting into details on the – you’ve mentioned that the story —

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Without getting into details, you’d like details.  Okay, go ahead.

QUESTION:  You mentioned the story the other days is fake news.

SECRETARY RUBIO:  It’s a fake news —

QUESTION:  Has there been no change, then, in UK sharing of intelligence?

SECRETARY RUBIO:  We have very strong partnerships with the UK and other countries.  Again, nothing has changed or happened that has impeded in any way our ability to do what we’re doing, nor are we asking anyone to help us with what we’re doing at any – in any realm, and that includes military.

QUESTION:  Do you think the Coast Guard —

QUESTION:  Has the UK expressed concern over U.S. strikes in the Caribbean?

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Has what now?

QUESTION:  Has the UK expressed concern to the U.S. over the strikes in —

SECRETARY RUBIO:  I’ve not discussed that with them.  They have not discussed it with me.  Maybe they’ve expressed it to the media, but they haven’t to me directly.  I think other ones are aware of what’s happening, but I don’t think anyone’s – no one’s raised it with me directly.  They certainly didn’t raise it today.  It didn’t come up one time.

QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary, is the Coast Guard doing effective work in the Pacific?

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Sure.  I mean, we —

QUESTION:  On drug interdiction?

SECRETARY RUBIO:  And interdictions continue.  The problem is interdictions alone are not effective.  You have to deincentivize this industry that these terrorists are using to flood our country with heroin, with cocaine, fentanyl.  And so – and, by the way, destabilize the Caribbean in the process.  Interdictions don’t – interdictions have limited to no deterrent effect.  These drug organizations, they’ve already baked in the fact they may lose 5 percent of their drug shipments.  It doesn’t stop them from coming – continuing to do it.  What you have seen is an impact on drug boats.  You have seen much less of them.  You’re starting to see it.  It’s a – in both the Pacific and in the Caribbean Basin, especially in the Caribbean.

QUESTION:  Any response to Venezuela’s government saying that it’s doing a massive military mobilization in response to what they call a threat from the United States?

SECRETARY RUBIO:  They don’t have a government.  There’s an illegitimate regime that’s basically a narcotrafficking organization that’s empowered itself.  By the way, many of the countries represented here at the G7 don’t recognize the Maduro regime as a legitimate government.  So I don’t generally respond to what they’re saying.  Suffice it to say that the problem we have is that the senior leader of that regime, of that illegitimate regime, is also indicted in the United States in the Southern District of New York on drug charges. 

And unfortunately, the Biden administration – both of his nephews were convicted of drug trafficking in the United States, and they were sitting in jail serving their federal sentences when the Biden administration pardoned them and released them along with Maduro’s bagman, Alex Saab, who was also in U.S. custody awaiting trial – released them as well on a promise that he would hold free and fair elections.  So we – they got – the Biden administration got snookered.  And they’ve snookered other people.  They’ve snookered the Vatican.  The Maduro regime has fooled other entities – the Norwegians, who have tried to get involved and broker deals with them.  But look, they – this is a counter-drug operation.  And if they stop sending drug boats, there won’t be any problems.

QUESTION:  Manuel Noriega was also an indicted drug trafficker whom the United States considered an illegitimate leader, and we went in and arrested him.  Is that something that you’re talking about?

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Yeah.  I was in high school when that happened, so I wasn’t involved in that operation.  (Laughter.)  I’m telling you about – I can only comment on what we’re facing now, and that is what the President has authorized is an operation to stop these terrorist organizations from flooding our country with drugs.  And that’s what we’re in the process of carrying out.  That’s what he’s authorized.  That’s what the military is doing.  That’s why our assets are there.

QUESTION:  Don’t you need to —

QUESTION:  Can I – Secretary, on the Middle East —

QUESTION:  Don’t you need to – Mr. Secretary, don’t you need to do it on land also?  There’s suggestion that most of the fentanyl, at least, is coming over land. 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Sure, and we have excellent cooperation with the Mexicans, and the Mexicans are doing more today than they’ve ever done to stop it.  Also, as part of the President’s agreement with President Xi of China, they’ve agreed to schedule – I think the FBI director, if not today, was going to have or did have a press conference announcing that.  But as part of the arrangement and the agreement that was made in South Korea two weeks ago, the Chinese have agreed to schedule 13 key precursors.  So for the first time, if they can cut back on that being shipped to Mexico, that will certainly have an impact on the manufacturing of fentanyl inside of Mexico.  And Mexican authorities are doing more today than they ever have, and we are working closer with Mexican authorities than we ever have that I can recall – perhaps ever, for certain – in stopping this flow. 

So we have very – we have strong cooperation with Mexico, with El Salvador, with Ecuador, with Guatemala, with multiple countries in the hemisphere that are helping us on land stop these flows from getting here.  That’s the difference between them and the drug boats.  With the drug boats, we have no cooperation.  On the contrary, the Venezuelan regime has long facilitated the use of Venezuelan territory as a transshipment point for drugs.

QUESTION:  Secretary, you met with your Indian counterpart here as well.  India has declared that the explosion in Delhi on Monday was a terrorist incident.  How concerned are you about rising tensions between India and Pakistan, given the antecedent of the tension and the fighting in the spring?

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Yeah.  I mean, we’re aware – yeah, we’re aware of the potential that that holds.  But I think the Indians are – need to be commended; they have been very measured and cautious and very professional in how they’re carrying out this investigation.  That investigation continues.  Clearly, it was a terrorist attack.  It was a car loaded with highly explosive materials that detonated and killed a lot of people.  But I think they’re doing a very good job of carrying out an investigation; and I think when they have facts, they’ll release those facts.

So, but clearly, I mean, we’re aware of the potential that it has, and so we spoke about that a little bit today – the potential that it has to become something broader.  But I think we’re going to wait and see what their investigation reveals.  We’ve offered to help, but I think they’re very capable in these investigations.  They don’t need our help.  They’re doing a good job, and I thought they were very measured and professional in how they’ve approached it, as they usually are.

QUESTION:  You mentioned China and fentanyl.  This working group that the Treasury Secretary has talked about setting up measuring China’s progress on cracking down on fentanyl flows, is there a timeline for when that will be established, do you know?

SECRETARY RUBIO:  I don’t know.  You’ll have to ask the – I mean, that’s part – since it’s part of the trade agreement, it’ll largely involve Treasury with probably elements of law enforcement as well.  But the FBI director traveled to China two days ago, had very positive meetings.  And from everything we’ve seen and heard so far, it appears the Chinese have a real interest in scheduling these substances.  These precursor chemicals have legitimate uses; but when you combine them all together, they create fentanyl, which is not legitimate. 

And so everything we’ve seen from them is that they’re serious about doing it, and in return the President cut in half the fentanyl tariffs.  So we expect both sides to comply with their end of the bargain, and so far everything we’ve seen indicates that they intend to.

QUESTION:  On the Middle East, can you talk about —

QUESTION:  Have you had any progress on the international stabilization force for – is there any further progress on the —

SECRETARY RUBIO:  We have a new draft, I think, that’s being worked on now.  We feel optimistic that it’s going to happen.  It needs to be done the right way, and obviously there’s a lot of different countries; you have to balance their interests here and how that’s structured beyond just the security force.  So I think we’re making good progress on the language of the resolution, and hopefully we’ll have action on it very soon.  We don’t want to lose momentum on this. 

QUESTION:  What should its role be?  Do you foresee it as potentially a fighting force, that it may have to be involved in raids against Hamas remnants or militants and disarming them?

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, it shouldn’t be a fighting force, but I mean it shouldn’t have to be, because the agreement that was signed and that all parties agreed to calls for the demilitarization of Hamas. 

So, but I think the question is who’s going to be standing on that line and beyond it to provide security, because you’re going to need security.  If you want to really flood Gaza, particularly in that red area that’s not in Israeli control – if you really want to see a huge uptick not just in humanitarian assistance but redevelopment, you’re going to need to have security, and that can’t be Hamas.  So there will have to be a force that provides just basic everyday security.  That’s as much as anything else what the stabilization force’s role is, is to stabilize.

As far as demilitarization is concerned, that’s a commitment Hamas made.  That’s a commitment all of our partners on this deal made.  And we expect those countries – and they are – will at the appropriate time, including now, bring about pressure on Hamas to live up to that commitment.

QUESTION:  But do you think the stabilization force should go beyond the yellow line if there isn’t – if there is an agreement on the disarmament of Hamas?

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, eventually there – I mean, look, the way to think about it is eventually there won’t be a yellow line.  Eventually there will be Gaza, and none of it will be controlled by Hamas.  Right now that yellow line is what differentiates between the parts of Gaza under Hamas control and the ones that are not under Hamas control. 

Eventually none of it should be under Hamas control.  There should be a civilian Palestinian organization that runs Gaza, and that’s the goal – is to stand that organization up, give it capacity, allow it to grow in both capability and credibility, and ultimately it will govern Gaza.  The Israelis don’t want to govern Gaza.  We don’t want to govern Gaza.  No country in the Middle East wants to govern Gaza.  But it’ll take some time to build up that capability, and in the interim someone has to provide security. 

QUESTION:  There’s been a —

QUESTION:  But that sounds like – it just sounds like you’re saying the ISF wouldn’t go in until there is a full withdrawal of the Israelis from the line.

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, that’s what’s being worked on in the resolution, and those are the questions that key partner countries are asking before they participate, and so that’s part of the ongoing conversations that are happening.  But clearly there will have to be some delineation of all of that before countries sign up, and that’s part of what’s going on.  I don’t want to comment on it in detail simply because it’s still being worked on and negotiated as part of the drafting.

QUESTION:  There’s been a spate of violence in the West Bank.  Critics say that West Bank settlers have carried out this violence with impunity.  I’m just wondering what your reaction is to that, if you could see that in any way potentially undermining or endangering some of these agreements in Gaza.

SECRETARY RUBIO:  I hope not.  I mean, I think the – I saw comments today from the president of Israel and even from the head of the IDF in that region condemning what happened.  I think they also attacked Israeli forces as part of this.  So it – I don’t have all the details on exactly what happened, but this has happened in the past.

But yeah, look, certainly there’s some concern about events in the West Bank spilling over and creating an effect that could undermine what we’re doing in Gaza.  We don’t expect it to.  We’ll do everything we can to make sure it doesn’t happen. 

I think you were just talking about the violence part, and – but I thought today the comments were very strong by the president of Israel and also by the IDF commander in the area.  His own troops were attacked and as well as police officers.  So I thought the Israelis today responded and they actually sent forces to respond to the attacks today as well, which is why their forces came under attack by some of these elements.

QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary, are you aware that —

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Hold on a second.  Go ahead.

QUESTION:  Thank you.  Sorry.  On Syria, the U.S. is allowing Syria to resume embassy operations in the United States.  Is the U.S. looking to resume embassy operations in Syria?  Are you working towards expanding —

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, it’s a little safer in Washington than it is in Damascus right now, so I think that that’s part of it.  Look, we want to give these guys every chance to succeed.  They’ve told us what they want to do is create a national Syrian government in which every element of Syrian society is represented and feel safe.  They don’t want Syria to ever again be a base of operations for Iran, for ISIS, or for any of these groups.  They want it to be a country, not a launching pad for attacks against their neighbors.

And so we want to give them every chance to succeed in that regard.  The alternative is that if it doesn’t work, if this doesn’t happen and it collapses, then the alternative is going to be that Syria will fall into civil war, and it will become a playground for virtually every dangerous element in the Middle East, and including a return of Iran, and it’ll even strengthen Hizballah.  So we don’t want to see that happen, so this is the best option on the table to prevent that from happening.

So we want to give these guys every chance to succeed.  We hope that they do.  No one can guarantee that it will.  The task they’re taking on is very difficult.  That includes there are parts – some of the elements that helped the current government come to power and drive Assad out are foreign fighters.  Some of them that came, that helped him, are people who have some pretty radical views, and they’re not all entirely under the control of the government in Damascus.  There are issues with the Kurds in the north.  There are issues with Bedouin and Druze in the south.  So there is concerns that Israel has about its own security.  All these things have to be balanced.

So this is – it’s a tough task.  But I ask everybody the alternative, the alternative if this fails.  Let’s say that this government project failed, either because they make it fail or because it’s just not successful.  Then what you’re going to see is Syria fall into total civil war, and it’ll just become an ungoverned space and a playground for ISIS, for Hizballah, for Iran, for al-Qaida, for every dangerous element in the region, and we’ll have a whole new war on our hands.

QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary?

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Go ahead.  I’m sorry.

QUESTION:  Thank you, Mr. Secretary.  The communique mentions China’s nuclear arsenal and concerns about that.  Can you describe what conversations were had with other GC members and other representatives in the meetings?  And what did you tell them about President Trump’s pledge to resume nuclear testing? 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, it didn’t – neither – I mean, Trump’s pledge to resume testing of our nuclear capabilities – that includes delivery systems – is on par with what other countries around the world are doing.  We’ve got to make sure these things work and that they’re safe.

In terms of the Chinese nuclear program, that wasn’t discussed at any of our meetings.  That’s something that happened at the staff level.  But these are longstanding concerns.  I mean, the Chinese are undertaking the most rapid military buildup in human history, so a part of that is their expansion of their nuclear capability.  So obviously we’re keeping an eye on that, and I think everybody is concerned about that.

QUESTION:  Secretary?

QUESTION:  Secretary, on Russia sanctions, to what extent did that come up, like to further – to further implement some sanctions —

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, there’s not a lot left sanction from our part.  I mean, we hit their major oil companies, which is what everybody’s been asking for.  Obviously those have to be implemented, and it’ll take some time till you begin to feel it.  But I mean, I don’t know what more there is to do.  I mean, we’re running out of things to sanction in that regard. 

QUESTION:  Shadow fleet? 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, shadow fleet is an enforcement mechanism, and obviously sanctions have to be enforced.  So we don’t put sanctions and then not enforce them.  We’re interested in enforcing them as well, so – but that’s more of an enforcement matter.  And shadow fleet has come up because I do think there are things that the Europeans can do on shadow fleets since a lot of these are happening in areas much closer to them. 

QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary, on —

QUESTION:  And sir, you met with your Mexican counterpart.

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Yeah. 

QUESTION:  And you’ve talked about Mexico helping more than ever before.  There’s been a high-profile assassination in recent weeks of a mayor of a town in the state of Michoacán in Mexico.  How concerned are you about Mexico’s public security situation?  What more can the U.S. do to help Mexico to take on the scourge of the cartels and the violence (inaudible)?

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, we’re willing to provide them any help they want.  Obviously they don’t want us to take – we’re not going to take unilateral action or go in and send American forces into Mexico, but we can help them with equipment, with training, with intelligence sharing, with all kinds of things that we could do if they asked for it.  They’ve got to ask for it.

But look, you’ve asked about one mayor.  It’s not just – there’s been other mayors, there’s been journalists, there’s been politicians, there’s been judges – these cartels that are very powerful. And one of the things that are being – that no one is discussing is the rise of these transnational terrorist organizations.  And just because they’re not ideologically driven does not mean they’re not terrorists.  You don’t have to be ideological to be a terrorist.  And they’re terrorists because they possess in many cases more weapons, better training, better intelligence, and more capabilities than nation-states do. 

In the case of Ecuador, these terrorist organizations are threatening the Ecuadorian state.  I mean, planting IDFs and attacking – sorry – planting IEDs and attacking the presidential convoy.  In Mexico there are areas of the country that are, frankly, run by and governed by – these cartels are more powerful than local law enforcement or even the national forces are.  So these are a concern throughout the hemisphere. 

It’s – in the case of Haiti, you’re not – they’re not – the Haitian problem is not with some ideological movement. The Haitian problem is with armed gangs that in many cases are stronger and more capable than the Haitian forces are to be able to stand up against them. 

So this is something that – this is probably the most serious endemic problem in the region is that we – these aren’t just criminal organizations.  They are terroristic organizations because they threaten the viability and the capabilities of nation-states.  They undermine – and they are trying to – in the case of Haiti they’re trying to make Haiti have no government at all.  It’s just a playground for them.  That’s sort of what the Maduro regime has become in Venezuela, and they were empowered, and obviously in areas of Mexico as well. 

But the level of cooperation between the U.S. and Mexico today is at an all-time high, and it’s growing and it’s positive, and it’s driven by what they ask for, what they need, and by helping them improve their own capabilities if they ask us for that help.  And they have in some cases; in others, they have those capabilities already. 

So we have a very good relationship with them.  We’ve made incredible strides in the first 10 months of this year, but it’s a big problem that’s been existing for a very long time.  So we’re taking on something that’s been there for a long time, so it’s going to take a while to see measurable progress.  In some cases, we already have.  We’re getting extraditions faster than we ever have, for example – not always, but in many of these cases.  So we have no complaints on the level of cooperation we’ve had from Mexico, and the work we’re doing with them is historic —

QUESTION:  On Haiti —

SECRETARY RUBIO:  — but a lot more to be done.

QUESTION:  On Haiti, did you get any commitments today at the G7 for the – for the gang force? 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, I mean, the Canadians have stepped up already.  So we have two challenges in Haiti.  The first is we have to finish out the transition period to the gang suppression force, so there’s another three months early next year that has to be funded.  We have agreed to fund the first half of the transition phase, which takes us to the end of this calendar year.  And now the money needs to be raised from international partners to fund the second three or four months transition.  Then we need to raise money for the UN office and the gang suppression force, and we have to get countries to volunteer to send forces.  We can’t just have the Kenyans doing it alone with 2,000 troops.

So  there’s a lot of work to be done.  We work on it every single day.  We have a whole crew that’s working on that every single day.  And we’re asking for three things:  money for the remaining transition phase – we’ve covered half of it, the rest of the world should be able to cover the other half; second is money for the UN office and the gang suppression force; and third are the forces.  Countries make a commitment to bring forces to bear so that it can rise to 5,000 as opposed to 2,000.  And we’re very grateful to what the Kenyans have done already, so we don’t want to see them abandoned, and we welcome them and we encourage them to remain a part of the gang suppression force.

QUESTION:  Is someone ready to take over for the Kenyans? 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, we’ll just – no, that’s just other countries will join it, is what we —

QUESTION:  Yeah – yeah. 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  It  won’t just be the Kenyans by themselves. 

QUESTION:  No, no, yeah, but to lead it? 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, that’s what we’re working on right now.  As you can tell, I mean, it’s not – like no – it’s work to be done in that regard, and we think there needs to be more hemispheric participation in that regard.  It really is something that we’d like to see higher levels of participation from our hemisphere. 

Now, we welcome other countries as well, but we think it’s important that countries in our hemisphere participate in this since it is a hemispheric challenge. 

QUESTION:  Sir, if I —

QUESTION:  Are there negotiations going on right now in advance of the New START Treaty expiring in February? 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  No, there’s no active, open – I mean, there’s conversations about potentially speaking to them about that.  They’ve expressed publicly some interest in it, so we’re doing that.  And I think that’s – and we bifurcate that from the whole Ukraine lens or context. 

So – but look, we have communications with the Russians at levels every day, maybe not at my level, but whether it’s our embassy operations, issues, or things like what you’ve just asked about with New START.  But I don’t have any news on that today.

QUESTION:  How’s your relationship with Lavrov right now? 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  I haven’t talked to him in a month, but fine.

QUESTION:  How did the last conversation go? 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, I mean, look, the last conversation I think it might be – the way I would characterize it is I think there was agreement on both sides that the next time our presidents meet, there has to be a concrete result.  We have to know going in that we have a real chance to get something positive coming out.  And we’d love to see that happen.  I mean, we’d love to see this war end, but we can’t just continue to have meetings for the sake of meetings.  And I think both sides sort of view it that way, at least that’s what I took from our conversations.

So my conversations with him have always been professional and productive.  But I mean, obviously we want to see results.

QUESTION:  Sir, (inaudible).

QUESTION:  Do you have any evidence, sir, that the Russians or the Wagner Group, other proxies, are involved in Sudan in continuing these —

SECRETARY RUBIO:  There’s a lot of players involved in Sudan, but I think that the primary challenge we face right now – and I’m not diminishing what the other side has done or what other – other atrocities that have been committed, different groups that are playing, and that includes potentially the Iranians, at least money and weapons being flown into the other side. 

But I think our biggest problem right now – not to single them out, but we need to – is what the RSF has done in recent weeks, is that they don’t have manufacturing capabilities.  Someone’s giving them the money and someone’s giving them the weapon, and it’s coming through some country.  And we know who they are, and we’re going to talk to them about it and make them understand that this is – it’s going to reflect poorly on them, it’s going to reflect poorly on the world, if we can’t stop this. 

QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary, how concerned are you about —

QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary, regarding Russian assets, will the U.S. get involved in Europeans’ plan to use the Russian frozen assets to support Ukraine? 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, Secretary Bessent is sort of dealing with that topic, so I wouldn’t want to get ahead of him on that.  I encourage you to ask Treasury about it.  I mean, I just don’t want to – I’ll let him speak for what our latest meeting —

QUESTION:  Was it discussed here today? 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Well, I mean, we’re aware of the efforts in Europe.  Obviously they have a couple countries that are not excited about it, so – but that’s a European matter.  As far as frozen assets in the United States and our approach to that, that’s something the Secretary of Treasury is working on and collectively we’re working on as a team.  But I’ll refer you to him.  I don’t want to be commenting on that and getting ahead of him on anything. 

QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary, how concerned —

QUESTION:  Does the U.S. support the European plan? 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Again, he – it’s also something that he’s looking at.  Look, we – like anybody else, there are some unintended consequences to doing that, but we – I don’t have any official statement on that right now. 

QUESTION:  How concerned are you about —

QUESTION:  A delegation is coming for —

QUESTION:  Just very quickly on Russian incursions in Eastern Europe, like —

SECRETARY RUBIO:  What’s that now? 

QUESTION:  Russian incursions, increasing incursions in Eastern European countries.  How concerned are you about those incursions?  And any —

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Yeah, we’re not in favor of them.  I mean, we don’t like them.  But we have a strong commitment to NATO and to defend our partners if they ever come under attack.  We think any – those provocations are coming from Russia.  We think that they’re counterproductive and obviously create a high level of tension that could spark something broader, which would be bad news for them and bad news for everybody, really. 

QUESTION:  And if I may, one quick question on Hungary, Mr. Secretary.  You guys have issued a waiver —

SECRETARY RUBIO:  Yes. 

QUESTION:  — sanctions waiver for Hungary.  There are conflicting reports about terms limits.  Is it about one year or indefinite? 

SECRETARY RUBIO:  So the President – it depends.  So there’s a nuclear plant issue that’s already under construction and they need to complete and – because it involves a Russian company that did the design and build – we want them to be able to complete because we want them to be energy independent. 

In the case of the pipelines on oil and gas, it’s a one-year extension because it would be deeply traumatic to their economy to cut them off immediately.  It’s a very small piece of what Russia sells.  It’s almost all of what they buy, and it would be deeply destabilizing in Hungary for them to lose access to those energy resources.

All right, everyone.  Thank you.