By MATTHEW LEE, BARAA ANWER and DASHA LITVINOVA, Related Press
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — The highest diplomats from Russia and the U.S. met Tuesday in Saudi Arabia to debate bettering ties and negotiating an finish to the warfare in Ukraine — talks that mirrored a serious and speedy change in American international coverage beneath President Donald Trump.
No Ukrainian officers had been current on the assembly, which got here because the beleaguered nation is slowly however steadily dropping floor in opposition to extra quite a few Russian troops in a grinding warfare that started almost three years in the past. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned his nation received’t settle for any final result from this week’s talks if Kyiv doesn’t participate. European allies have additionally expressed issues they’re being sidelined.
Past Ukraine, the assembly — attended by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Russian Overseas Minister Sergey Lavrov and different senior officers — had been anticipated to give attention to thawing relations between the 2 nations, whose ties have fallen to their lowest degree in a long time.
Bettering Russian-US relations
In an interview with The Related Press after the assembly, Rubio mentioned the 2 facet agreed broadly to pursue three targets: to revive staffing at their respective embassies in Washington and Moscow, to create a high-level staff to assist Ukraine peace talks, and to discover nearer relations and financial cooperation.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, heart, sits subsequent to U.S. Nationwide Safety Advisor Mike Waltz throughout a gathering with Saudi Overseas Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Saudi Nationwide Safety Advisor Mosaad bin Mohammad Al-Aiban, Russian Overseas Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s international coverage advisor Yuri Ushakov, at Diriyah Palace, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photograph by way of AP)
Each embassies have been hit exhausting by expulsions of huge numbers of diplomats over the course of a number of years as relations soured and the U.S., together with European nations, imposed a raft of sanctions on Russia. The allies have repeatedly expanded the measures to break its financial system.
“Should this conflict come to an acceptable end, the incredible opportunities that exist to partner with the Russians geopolitically on issues of common interest and frankly, economically on issues that hopefully will be good for the world and also improve our relations in the long term,” Rubio mentioned.
His remarks had been additional proof of the exceptional U.S. reversal on Russia after years during which Trump’s predecessor led worldwide efforts to isolate Moscow.
Tuesday’s assembly was meant to pave the best way for a summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. After the talks wrapped, Putin’s international affairs advisor, Yuri Ushakov, instructed Russia’s Channel One which no date has been set but for that summit however that it was “unlikely” to happen subsequent week.
Ushakov’s remarks advised the 2 sides made little progress. Russia and the USA agreed to “take each other’s interests into account” and advance their relations. He added that it was “hard to say” that the 2 nations’ positions “are getting closer, but there was talk about it.”
Beforehand, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov instructed reporters that the talks can be primarily centered on “restoring the entire range of U.S.-Russian relations, as well as preparing possible talks on the Ukrainian settlement and organizing a meeting of the two presidents.” U.S. State Division spokeswoman Tammy Bruce has mentioned the assembly was aimed toward figuring out how critical the Russians are about wanting peace and whether or not detailed negotiations will be began.
Issues from allies they’re being sidelined
The latest U.S. diplomatic blitz on the warfare has despatched Ukraine and key allies scrambling to make sure a seat on the desk amid issues that Washington and Moscow may press forward with a deal that received’t be favorable to them.
Kyiv’s absence at Tuesday’s talks has rankled many Ukrainians, and France known as an emergency assembly of European Union nations and the U.Ok. on Monday to debate the warfare.
Rubio mentioned Tuesday that ending Russia’s warfare in Ukraine would require concessions from all sides and that Europe can be part of talks.
When requested about sanctions in opposition to Russia, Rubio famous that the measures had been imposed because of Russia’s invasion and that it’s not simply the U.S. that has imposed them.
“The European Union is going to have to be at the table at some point because they have sanctions as well that have been imposed,” he mentioned.
Kyiv’s participation in such talks was a bedrock of U.S. coverage beneath Joe Biden, whose administration additionally led worldwide efforts to isolate Russia over the warfare.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday mentioned he spoke by telephone to Trump and Zelenskyy following the assembly he known as in Paris.
“We seek a strong and lasting peace in Ukraine,” Macron wrote on social media platform X. “To achieve this, Russia must end its aggression, and this must be accompanied by strong and credible security guarantees for the Ukrainians,” he mentioned and vowed to “work on this together with all Europeans, Americans, and Ukrainians.”
Peskov on Tuesday mentioned that Putin has repeatedly expressed readiness for peace talks, and famous {that a} sturdy settlement of the battle in Ukraine can be not possible with out “a comprehensive consideration of security issues” in Europe.
Saudi Arabia’s position
The assembly on the Diriyah Palace within the Saudi capital of Riyadh additionally highlights de facto chief Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s efforts to be a serious diplomatic participant, burnishing a repute severely tarnished by the 2018 killing of Washington Submit journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Saudi state media described the talks as taking place on the prince’s course. Just like the neighboring United Arab Emirates, the prince has maintained shut relations to Russia all through its warfare on Ukraine, each by the OPEC+ oil cartel and diplomatically as properly.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, meets with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, proper, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Monday Feb. 17, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photograph by way of AP)
Saudi Arabia has additionally helped in prisoner negotiations and hosted Zelenskyy for an Arab League summit in 2023. Zelenskyy mentioned he would journey to the dominion later this week.
Rubio was accompanied by U.S. nationwide safety adviser Mike Waltz and particular envoy Steve Witkoff, whereas Lavrov sat subsequent to the Kremlin’s international affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov. Saudi Overseas Minister Faisal bin Farhan and nationwide safety adviser Musaed al Alban joined Rubio, Lavrov and others for the beginning of the assembly however had been anticipated to depart early within the talks.
Forward of the talks, Kirill Dmitriev, the top of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund who the Kremlin mentioned may be part of, underscored the significance of the assembly.
“Good U.S.-Russia relations are very important for the whole world. Only jointly can Russia and the U.S. address lots of world problems, resolve for global conflicts and offer solutions,” Dmitriev, who mentioned he and his staff would give attention to financial points on the talks, instructed the AP.
The assembly marked probably the most intensive contact between the 2 nations since Moscow’s Feb. 24, 2022, invasion. Lavrov and then-U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken talked briefly on the sidelines of a G-20 assembly in India almost two years in the past, and within the fall of 2022, U.S. and Russian spymasters met in Turkey amid Washington’s issues that Moscow may resort to nuclear weapons amid battlefield setbacks.
Warfare continues
In the meantime, Russia continued to pummel Ukraine with drones, in line with Kyiv’s navy. The Ukrainian air drive mentioned Russian troops launched a barrage of 176 drones at Ukraine in a single day, most of which had been destroyed or disabled by jamming.
One Russian drone struck a residential constructing in Dolynska within the Kirovohrad area, wounding a mom and her two youngsters and prompting an evacuation of 38 flats, the regional administration reported. 4 extra residential buildings had been broken by drone particles within the Cherkasy area of Ukraine, in line with native officers.
Litvinova reported from Tallinn, Estonia. Related Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.
Initially Revealed: February 18, 2025 at 9:10 AM EST
