People gather for Russia Day celebrations in Moscow, Russia, on 11 June 2025. Photo: EPA-EFE/MAXIM SHIPENKOV

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has marked Russia Day by congratulating the Russian people on Russia Day, the first such remarks by a top-ranking American government official since 2022.

In a short statement marking the anniversary of Russia’s declaration of sovereignty in 1990, over a year before the Soviet Union’s collapse, Rubio also stressed his wish to see a “durable peace” between Russia and Ukraine amid “constructive engagement” between Washington and Moscow.

“The United States remains committed to supporting the Russian people as they continue to build on their aspirations for a brighter future,” Rubio said. “It is our hope that peace will foster more mutually beneficial relations between our countries,” he added.

Rubio’s statement did not include any expressly political remarks against the Putin regime, nor any commentary regarding the Russian state’s culpability in the war in Ukraine.

His predecessor as Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, was more outspoken in both regards, condemning the Kremlin’s “internal repression” and “unprovoked and unjustified war” in Ukraine in the last Russia Day comments by a US government official.

“The Kremlin’s war has left Russia isolated internationally, and it is robbing Russian citizens of the possibility of building a better future in harmony with their neighbors,” Blinken said in June 2022.

Rubio’s comments highlight a recent thaw in bilateral relations, with diplomatic ties significantly improving since US President Donald Trump took office in January. While the Trump administration has occasionally threatened the Kremlin with sanctions for continuing to fight in Ukraine, the White House has not approved any new military aid to Ukraine and has put near-equal pressure on Kyiv to make peace.

On Wednesday, new Russian ambassador to the United States, Alexander Darchiev, similarly commented on the sea change in the two countries’ diplomatic relations.

Speaking at a reception at the Russian Embassy in Washington following his official presentation of credentials to President Trump in the White House, Darchiev highlighted the “window of opportunity” now open between Moscow and Washington.

“We have finally moved from the previous administration’s monologues and general absence of discussion to quite a pragmatic conversation, a complex conversation,” Darchiev said, according to TASS, Russia’s state-owned news agency.