The first discussions of this kind since the Russian invasion of Ukraine took place on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia between senior US and Russian diplomats.
This is the first high-level meeting between the nations since US President Donald Trump’s inauguration, and both sides downplayed any hopes for a breakthrough.
Despite the United States’ recent int rets with the Kremlin, Ukraine and Europe are concerned about the fact that the encounter is taking place.
At Diriyah Palace in Riyadh, the talks began without visible handshakes, and no statements were made.
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was seated across the table from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also had US Secretary of State Mike Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff by his side.
Senior Russian presidential adviser Yuri Ushakov was present with Lavrov. Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the head of Saudi foreign affairs, and Musaad bin Mohammad al-Aiban, the head of national security, also took the meeting.
Kyiv was not invited to the discussions, according to Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine. On Monday, European leaders met in Paris for urgent discussions about how to respond to the new Trump administration’s radical pivot.
On the agenda will also likely be a possible summit between Trump and Vladimir Putin.
Russia sees his outreach as a chance to win concessions, while Trump is pushing for a quick resolution to the three-year conflict in Ukraine.
According to Ukrainian news organizations, Zelensky claimed that Kyiv “cannot recognize any things or agreements about us without us” and that it “did not know anything about” the talks in Riyadh.
The Kremlin stated at the Riyadh meeting that a lasting agreement with Ukraine would be “impossible” without going over the bigger picture of European security and that it was opposed to joining NATO.
Without a thorough analysis of security concerns on the continent, Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, said that Putin was willing to discuss this with Zelensky “if necessary.”
In Beijing, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun welcomed “efforts towards peace” in Ukraine, adding that “at the same time, we hope that all parties and stakeholders can participate” in talks.
Russia stated prior to the meeting that it viewed no place for Europeans at the table and that it wanted to “move on from normal relations.”
Possible Trump-Putin summit
Moscow’s economic negotiator for talks with Washington, Kirill Dmitriev, told state TV on Tuesday that he expected “progress in the not so distant future, in the next two-three months”.
“We have a series of proposals, which our colleagues are thinking about”, said Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund.
Prior to Peskov’s earlier statement, Peskov stated that the discussions in Riyadh would be “primarily devoted to restoring the entire complex of Russian-American relations,” along with discussions of “possible negotiations on a Ukrainian resolution, and arranging a meeting between the two presidents.
Moscow, which has long sought to reduce NATO’s presence in Europe, has made it clear that it wants to talk with the US about a variety of broad security issues, not just a potential ceasefire with Ukraine.
There aren’t certains about any discussions that will lead to a resolution to put an end to the fighting in Ukraine.
Russia and the United States have seen Tuesday’s meeting as the start of a potentially lengthy process three years after Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
According to US State Department spokesman Tammy Bruce, “I don’t believe people should view this as something that’s about details or moving forward in some sort of negotiation.”
Ushakov, a Russian official, stated in a statement that the discussions would be about “how to begin negotiations on Ukraine.”
Not an option to travel to Europe
Putin demanded Kyiv’s troops leave even more territory last year, and both Ukraine and Russia have rejected territorial concessions.
Zelensky and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were in Turkey on Tuesday to discuss the conflict. He is due in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
Zelensky stated last week that he was interested in meeting Putin, but only after Kyiv and its allies agreed on ending the conflict.
Russia’s Lavrov said on Monday that he saw no point in participating in any discussions with Ukraine as European leaders gathered in Paris for a summit on emergency security.
Analysts were able to see the significance of the discussions taking place in Riyadh, which was once a diplomatic pariah under the former US administration.
“Europe’s the traditional meeting place for the Americans and the Russians, but that’s not an option in the current environment”, said James Dorsey of the National University of Singapore.
“You either go to Asia or you go to Saudi Arabia”, he said.
Moscow enters the discussions, which have been boosted by recent victories on the battlefield, while Kyiv also faces the possibility of losing significant US military aid, which Trump has long criticized.
Source: Channels TV
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