US top diplomat may miss NATO meeting, European allies watch closely

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is reportedly planning to skip next week’s NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels, two U.S. officials told reporters, marking a highly unusual absence of Washington’s top diplomat from a key transatlantic gathering.

Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau is set to represent the United States at the meeting instead, according to one of the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the matter.

The reason for Rubio’s planned absence remains unclear, and his attendance could still change at the last minute. However, his likely no-show comes amid intense U.S.-Ukrainian negotiations over President Donald Trump’s controversial plan to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a process that has drawn criticism from some European diplomats who feel they are being sidelined.

NATO typically holds two formal meetings of foreign ministers per year, and it is extremely rare for the U.S. secretary of state to be absent. During Trump’s first term, then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson initially planned to skip a 2017 meeting, though the event was later rescheduled to accommodate his schedule.

A State Department spokesperson declined to comment on Rubio’s potential absence but emphasised that NATO had been “completely revitalised” during the Trump administration.

"The historic foreign policy achievements in just 10 months of this Administration speak for themselves," the spokesperson said.

A NATO official deferred to the United States regarding Rubio’s attendance but noted that it is not unusual for some foreign ministers to miss the meeting.

The absence comes at a delicate moment for Ukraine and Europe. Ukrainian and European officials have expressed caution about being pressured into a deal too favourable to Russian interests, concerns that intensified after a draft 28-point peace plan to end the war was leaked on November 18.

Rubio’s absence risks raising doubts about Washington’s commitment to European security, which has already been questioned in recent years. While the United States remains the de facto leader of NATO, Trump has repeatedly questioned the alliance’s necessity and at times suggested the U.S. could withdraw from the decades-old organisation.

Christopher Landau, the number-two U.S. diplomat attending in Rubio’s place, previously questioned the need for NATO in a June post on X, which he later deleted. Trump, meanwhile, reaffirmed his support for the alliance during a June NATO leaders’ summit, widely regarded as successful, but has consistently pressed member states to increase their defence spending, insisting that the U.S. would no longer “bail them out.”

Rubio’s absence coincides with a particularly fraught moment for Ukraine. Concerns over peace negotiations have been compounded by the recent resignation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, who stepped down on November 28, hours after anti-corruption agents searched his home.

By Tamilla Hasanova