In rare public remarks, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday that she believes “this last week was a turning point” in the U.S. and European stance toward Ukraine and Russia, and potentially in the war in Ukraine, “because the president is angry with Putin because he has, in effect, made the president look bad.”
Speaking on a panel moderated by NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell at the annual Aspen Security Forum, Rice addressed the ultimatum that President Donald Trump gave Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, to accept a peace deal with Ukraine within 50 days or face new secondary sanctions, which would penalize entities that do business with Russia.
“I think the best news that we could possibly give to the Ukrainian people is that the United States and Europe have finally aligned around the idea that Vladimir Putin will not be stopped with words. He will only be stopped if he believes that he can go no further, he can win no further,” Rice said.
The promise of additional weapons for Ukraine and the ultimatum for Russia haven’t slowed Putin’s aggression, however. Late Wednesday night, Russia launched hundreds more drones and missiles into Ukraine, killing two people, injuring dozens more and knocking out power for 80,000 families.
While acknowledging that secondary sanctions can be hard to enforce, Rice pointed to ways they could still be painful for Russia. “If you’re China,” she said, “with an economy that’s not in great shape,” or “India, which really doesn’t want to be on the wrong side of this, maybe you start thinking about whether that discounted Russian oil is really worth it.”
Given Rice’s experience as secretary of state and before that as national security adviser, both in the George W. Bush administration, Mitchell also asked her about Marco Rubio currently holding both titles, making him the only person other than Henry Kissinger to have held both roles at once.
“You know what?” she said, “I don’t mind it.” Rice explained that proximity is everything: “To have Marco Rubio in the White House next to the Oval Office, which is where the national security adviser is, as opposed to down in Foggy Bottom, where the secretary of state is, I don’t think it’s a bad thing right now.”
Rice also criticized the Biden administration for, in her view, having taken its time to get desperately needed weapons to Ukraine from the outset. “If you had given them everything at the beginning of the war,” she said, when “the Russians were on their back foot, [Ukraine] could’ve won this war outright.”