A Russian delegation led by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (Front) arrived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and arrived in Saudi Arabia on February 17, 2025 to meet with their American counterparts. The meeting will focus on the Russian-US bilateral ties, preparations for negotiations between Ukraine and Ukraine, potential Putin-Trump meeting.
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Russian and U.S. officials held their first formal meeting in many years on Tuesday as they discussed the basis for talks on how to end the Ukrainian war.
The meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Secretary Sergei Lavrov began in the last hour, marking a senior U.S. and Russian diplomatic officer since January 2022 The first formal seating meeting between the two sides, when then Secretary of the State Council Antony Blinken and Lavrov met in Geneva during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
According to Russian state media reports, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and national security adviser Mike Waltz are attending the meeting, while Lavrov is a Kremlin assistant, according to reports from Russian state media. Yery Yury Ushakov accompanied him, and according to Russian state media, there was no plan to hold a public meeting between Rubio and Lavrov.
The high-profile meeting comes after U.S. President Donald Trump announced last week that he and Russian President Putin agreed to start negotiations to end the three-year war in Ukraine.
Both sides seem to be downplaying the potential outcome of the first meeting. State Department spokesman Tammy Bruce told reporters on Monday that the Riyadh meeting was intended to “certify that the Russians might be serious and whether they are on the same page.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that the meeting was to discuss the restoration of bilateral relations and “potential preparations for peace talks in Ukraine”, as well as Trump and Russian President Vladimir An upcoming meeting between Vladimir Putin.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Antonio Rubio (L) met with Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal Bin Farhan Al Saud (R) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on February 17, 2025.
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Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian sovereign wealth fund, is also part of the Russian delegation in Riyadh, and his appearance shows Moscow’s desire to emphasize the economic interests of restoring ties.
Speaking to Russian media on Tuesday, Dmitriev estimated: “By leaving Russia, American businesses lost about $300 billion. So many countries know that it is happening now The thing we believe as a solution is a way forward,” he said, according to News Agency Interfax report.
Ukraine and Europe are frozen
Keeff said officials from Ukraine would not attend the talks in Riyadh, and European allies are currently frozen.
Kiev’s leaders warned that it would disagree with any peace agreement that violates its interests, while European leaders warned at a Munich security meeting last weekend that any agreement that was not involved was invalid.
European leaders hold Emergency Meeting In Paris on Monday, they agreed to a significant increase in defense spending but could not agree whether peacekeeping forces were sent to Ukraine as part of a post-war plan.
Britain said it was willing to send peacekeeping forces to Ukraine, but said the United States needed to provide “support” to support the deployment, while Denmark and France expressed their willingness to consider sending troops to the country.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at a meeting on security for European palaces held in Paris on February 17, 2025.
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However, other countries, including some of Ukraine’s biggest supporters, are wary. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has publicly criticized the idea, calling it “totally premature” and “highly inappropriate”, while leaders in Italy, Spain and Norway seem to be more cynical about the idea.
Desire to maintain close ties with President Trump, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will meet with the president next week, while French President Emmanuel Macron said he and his Trump and Zelensky had a conversation.
“We seek strong and lasting peace in Ukraine. To achieve this, Russia must end its aggression, which must be accompanied by strong and credible security assurances of the Ukrainians. Otherwise, such a ceasefire could be risky like this. The Minsk Agreement will work with all Europeans, Americans and Ukrainians. Macron said on social media platform X.
