On Tuesday, top US and Russian diplomats met in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, to discuss ways to end the conflict in Ukraine and reestablish damaged diplomatic ties between the two countries.
The discussions marked Washington and Moscow’s first high-level communication since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, when their bilateral ties had reached their lowest point.
What can we expect from the Riyadh talks next, and what are the key lessons learned?
US and Russian establishment of negotiating teams to put an end to the conflict
Russia and the United States have come to terms with creating a high-level team to work together to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, which was reportedly a new cold war between Moscow and US and its NATO allies in Europe.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who was accompanied by Moscow’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and special Middle Eastern envoy Steve Witkoff, were present.
Rubio explained to the AP news agency that both Russia and the US would form high-level teams under the direction of supporting Ukraine’s peace talks.
Rubio added that ending the conflict in Ukraine could give the US and Russia “hopefully” the opportunity to work together on issues of mutual interest, which “hopefully will benefit the world and also improve our relations over the long term.”
Due to Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s resignation as president of Ukraine, both parties have pledged to keep the talks moving forward. According to Zellenskyy, who lost nearly 20% of its territory to Russia, he would not accept any agreement being made with it.
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin spoke in Russian during the week-long meeting. Trump’s overture to Putin has upended Washington’s policy on Ukraine, ending three years of policy focused on isolating Moscow.
After the talks in Riyadh, which were the first high-level discussions since the then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Lavrov in 2022 in Geneva, Trump said on Tuesday that he was “much more confident” in the Ukraine peace deal.
“Russia wants to do something”, Trump said in Florida. He dismissed Kyiv’s concern about being excluded from the meeting and said the two countries should have spoken sooner.
“I think I have the power to end this war”, he said.
Washington and Moscow to mend their relationship
The two parties came to an end to their diplomatic and economic ties after the Ukraine war broke out nearly three years ago during the talks held at Riyadh’s Diriyah Palace.
According to Lavrov, the two parties agreed to expedite the appointment of new ambassadors, adding that senior diplomats from the two nations would meet soon to discuss issues like “lowering artificial barriers to the work of the US and Russian embassies and other missions.”
Both nations have fired their diplomats, and Russia has been subjected to numerous economic sanctions by the US and its Western allies. Following Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, the diplomatic rift between the US and Russia grew.
Rubio remarked that putting an end to the conflict cannot occur “unless there is at least some normalcy in the way our diplomatic missions operate in Moscow and Washington, DC.”
The US and its allies imposed at least 21, 692 sanctions on Russia since the 2022 invasion. As the Biden administration tried to isolate Russia globally, many US businesses resigned.
In 2022, Russia’s gross domestic product (GDP) dropped by about 2.1 percent, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Moscow is already anticipating US companies’ return.
According to state-owned Russian news agency TASS on Wednesday, Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Moscow wealth fund, the Russian Direct Investment Fund, expects “a number of American companies to return to the Russian market in the second quarter of 2025.”
These American businesses lost $324 billion as a result, Dmitriev claimed to Reuters.
Europe and Ukraine did not discuss the table.
Representatives from Ukraine and NATO allies did not attend the table of talks, with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy rejecting any concessions made to Russia on Wednesday.
Both Rubio as well as Lavrov, however, have said “concessions” have to be made by “all sides” to bring an end to the conflict.
Zelenskyy flew to Ankara to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan the day after US diplomats were in face-to-face meetings with their Russian counterparts.
“The Russian-American meeting in Saudi Arabia came as a surprise to us, just as it did to many others. To be honest, I don’t really care. Our partners should take some time to reflect on us, Zelenskyy said on Tuesday at a press conference.
Referring to Ukraine’s concerns about being left out of the talks, Trump said on Tuesday: “Well, you’ve been there for three years, you should have ended it”.
Trump’s demand for Ukraine to hold elections made him question Zelenskyy’s leadership legitimacy. Without providing any proof, the US president claimed Zelenskyy’s approval rating was only 4 percent.
At a news conference in Kyiv on Wednesday, Zelenskyy said that Trump was “living in a disinformation space” created by Russia.
Russian leaders in Europe have also expressed their concerns as a result of Trump’s outreach to Moscow, which they perceive as their greatest security threat.
Rubio stated on Tuesday that “we will engage and consult with Ukraine, our partners in Europe, and others.” But ultimately, the Russian side will be indispensable to this effort”.
In the event of a peace deal, Ukraine and other European countries have demanded security from Russian aggression. Trump’s envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, who arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday, said, “We understand the need for security guarantees”.
The Trump administration claims that the US has other priorities, such as border security, and that Europe should take the lead in providing security guarantees to Ukraine.
Trump also wants defense spending to equal 5% of GDP in Europe. At least 2 percent of their GDP is pledged by NATO member states in 2014. This is higher than that. Now, only 23 of the 32 members have upheld this pledge.
Diplomatic coup for Russia
Russia has a chance to benefit from the diplomatic dialogue, which would include a price cap on Russian oil exports. Trump has also backed Moscow’s return to the G7 – the club of wealthy nations.
On Wednesday, the Ukrainian leader claimed that the US had helped put an end to Moscow’s isolation around the world.
“This isn’t positive for Ukraine. At a news conference on Wednesday, Zelenskyy said, in contrast to Trump, that they are bringing Putin out of isolation, and that the Russians are content because the discussion centers on them.
At the talks, Russia did not offer concessions, and deemed the deployment of NATO troops in Ukraine “completely unacceptable”.
Last week, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that Ukraine’s accession into NATO is “unrealistic”.
Lavrov, who praised Trump, said on Wednesday that “he is the first, and thus far, in my opinion, the only Western leader to publicly and vocally assert that one of the previous administration’s impudent line was to join NATO.”
No date set for a Trump-Putin summit
Rubio claimed that Washington and Moscow were unable to choose a Trump and Putin date after the meeting with reporters. According to Walz, the meeting might take place in the near future.
According to Russian media reports, Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, said on Wednesday that Trump and Putin could meet this month.
Trump made the suggestion that he might meet Putin before the end of this month during a press conference held on Tuesday at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Source: Aljazeera
Leave a Reply