U.S. presidential special envoy Steve Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have emerged as rivals for the role of Washington’s lead negotiator on resolving the Russia-Ukraine conflict, NBC reported, citing sources.

According to the network, Witkoff has repeatedly acted on foreign policy matters without the knowledge of the State Department leadership. In particular, Rubio was expected to take part in talks with Ukraine in Switzerland, but Witkoff traveled there ahead of him. NBC’s sources viewed this as an attempt to engage Kyiv without the secretary of state. Rubio, however, managed to arrive in Geneva in time and prevented the talks from taking place without his participation.

In late November, several days after the Geneva meetings, Witkoff organized talks with Ukrainian officials in Florida. NBC reported that Rubio was not informed about these plans and learned of the meeting only after Kyiv raised questions with him.

One source told the network that Rubio had effectively been sidelined, even though he should be the one overseeing the process.

NBC’s sources claim that such attempts by Witkoff to bypass Rubio were not isolated incidents. According to the network, the underlying issue is that the special envoy and the secretary of state hold sharply different views on how the war in Ukraine should be brought to an end. The State Department, however, denies that there are any tensions between the two.

State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said there are no disagreements between Rubio and Witkoff and never have been. He stated that they maintain close working relations, are on friendly terms, and fully share the president’s objectives, acting in full coordination to implement Donald Trump’s vision for ending the war and achieving peace.

The talks in Miami and Geneva have focused on a U.S.-proposed settlement plan for the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The document initially consisted of 28 points but was later shortened during contacts between Washington and Kyiv. The plan has not yet been officially published.

Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov has said that Moscow may be dissatisfied with certain provisions of the new U.S. peace plan. According to him, Russia has the impression that the final version of the document will be worse than earlier proposals.