Kremlin says Rubio's view of Ukraine conflict as a US-Russia proxy war matches that of Putin

MOSCOW, March 6 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Thursday that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio's view that the Ukraine conflict is a proxy war between the United States and Russia is in line with Russian President Vladimir Putin's own assessment.

"It's been very clear from the beginning that (U.S. President Donald Trump) views this as a protracted, stalemated conflict," Rubio told Fox News in an interview on Wednesday.

"And frankly, it's a proxy war between nuclear powers – the United States, helping Ukraine, and Russia – and it needs to come to an end."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow agreed with Rubio's assessment and noted that Russia has said many times that the war is a conflict between Russia and the U.S.-led collective West.

"We can and want to agree with it, and we agree with it. That's the way it is. We have said this repeatedly. We have said that this is actually a conflict between Russia and the collective West. And the main country of the collective West is the United States of America," Peskov said of Rubio's remarks.

"So it is absolutely in line with the position that our president and foreign minister have repeatedly expressed. We have said this repeatedly, and yes, we agree that it is time to stop this conflict and this war."