Rubio heads to Central Asia while aides handle crises — SkimNews
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- Marco Rubio is scheduled to land in Samarkand on Sunday to meet with leaders from the C5+1, a grouping that brings together the US and the Muslim-majority post-Soviet states of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
- Marco Rubio has not visited Kyiv or Moscow since becoming secretary of state and was absent from US-Ukraine talks in Florida earlier this month; Vice President JD Vance, not Rubio, represented the US at peace talks with Iran in Pakistan in April.
- Donald Trump struck a deal with Moscow this month to import Russian diesel and on Friday waived all provisions of legislation that would have allowed massive tariffs on nations that buy significant Russian crude — among them India and Kazakhstan.
- A US official described the India trade deal as "pretty much done," raising the possibility of an announcement during Rubio's stops in Mumbai and Jamnagar, where he is to meet Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani.
- More than 200 business executives will accompany Rubio to Uzbekistan, with a Central Asian diplomat saying the Trump administration has focused its commercial efforts on expanding access to the region's rare earth mineral resources.
- The trip was largely organized by Sergio Gor, the US ambassador to India, who was born in Uzbekistan and also serves as the Trump administration's special envoy for South and Central Asian affairs.
Why it matters: The trip exposes how the Trump administration splits its foreign policy labor: Rubio handles quieter regional and commercial outreach while Vance, Witkoff and Kushner take the Russia, Iran and Ukraine files. Central Asian diplomats are watching whether enforcement of Russian sanctions evasion continues, and Trump's Friday waiver of penalties on Russian crude buyers potentially shields India and Kazakhstan from tariff hits during his India stop.
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