Russia and the US have agreed to “lay the foundation for future cooperation” to end the normalization of lightning in Ukrainian war and relations.
After four and a half hours of negotiations in Riyadh on Tuesday, the US State Department appointed “high-level teams” to both sides seek to end the war and establish diplomatic channels to resolve bilateral issues He said that.
The talks made an extraordinary turnaround just days after President Donald Trump called Putin in his efforts to end the war last week without consulting Ukraine or its European allies. I've marked it.
“This should not be a temporary end as we have seen, as we have seen, but a permanent end to the war,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump's special envoy Steve. “The US national security adviser Mike Waltz said, who accompanied Witkoff. .
The meeting in Riyadh on Tuesday was the first of its kind between the US and Russia since Moscow's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Appearing almost unthinkable even a few weeks ago, the Russian and American flags flew next to each other outside the gorgeous palace where the meeting was held.
“The real reality is that there is a territorial debate, there is a security assurance debate. These are just basic fundamentals,” Waltz added, and Trump “determined to move very quickly. “He said.
In a language that the Russian side has primarily reflected, the US State Department states that new diplomatic channels between the two countries “lay the foundation for future cooperation on mutual geopolitical interests and historical economic and investment opportunities issues.” Ta. The Ukrainian War.
Kiril Dmitriev, chief executive of Russia's Sovereign Wealth Fund, said the two sides discussed “restoring economic relations in areas of mutual interest.”
Dmitriev, who was in Riyadh during discussions, refused to provide certain details, including co-investment in “various companies,” “co-investment with American partners,” and investments in the Arctic. He said it could be.
The US-Russia reconciliation sparked fears about Kiev and the European capital that Trump wanted to resolve the conflict on Moscow's terms.
Washington appeared to have been given to some of Putin's core requests before talks began on Tuesday.
With a sign of a hardline that President Putin will take on Ukraine, Russia will be “essential to resolve the first reason” for the conflict and ensure “legal interests of all countries in the region.” I emphasized it.
It shows that the Kremlin had not dropped its goal of conquering much of Ukraine and making it nearly impossible for the country to remain a functional nation.
Russia has ruled out Europe's role in consultations and called for NATO to withdraw the 2008 open-ended invitation for Kiev to join the alliance.
Ukrainian President Voldimia Zelensky said he rescheduled a visit to Saudi Arabia after US-Russia talks and described Tuesday's meeting as a “surprise.”
Putin's foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said the US and Russia will work to “create the conditions” for the Trump Putin Conference, but this is because “exhausted work” is needed first. He said it probably won't happen next week.
Ushakov added that Trump's envoy to the conflict, Keith Kellogg, will deal with Ukraine's relations with Europe. That is to say, the US will appoint someone else to take the lead with Moscow.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said both sides agreed to “ensure a swift appointment of ambassadors to each other's capital and to remove any obstacles the Biden administration has introduced regarding its diplomatic mission.”
These barriers included “the issues of “expulsion of diplomats, the seizure of our property and banking transactions,” Lavrov said. “Our representatives will arrange a meeting soon to assess the need to remove these barriers,” he added.
To normalize bilateral relations, one of Moscow's main demands, the US sanctions against Russia must be lifted.
Rubio said the EU “have to be at the table at some point, as there are sanctions imposed.”
Asked what concessions Moscow would make in return, the US Secretary of State said such steps were attributed to “difficult and difficult diplomacy” in “rooms closed for a period of time.”
He added: “No one's been seen by here.”
But as Europe is trying to respond to US and Russian talks, French President Emmanuel Macron is planning an emergency meeting of European leaders on Wednesday. According to people who explained the plan.
The meeting was primarily intended for countries that were not invited to the previous summit on Monday, when leaders sent peacekeepers to Ukraine to clash. The UK said: “We offered to put our boots on the ground, but Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain have expressed their reluctance to do so.
Lavrov said on Tuesday that peacekeeping deployments in Europe were “unacceptable.” He also rejected the US request that Moscow cease attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, claiming that Russia did not attack civilian targets.
Waltz said the US is conducting “shuttle diplomacy” and consulting Zelensky and Macron, but Trump will meet with British Prime Minister Kiel Starmer next week.
He rejected the “concept that our allies are not consulted.”
Kiev says that while European countries scramble to recognise table seats, they will refuse any trades imposed without involvement.
When the Tuesday speech was held, Zelenki visited Tayyip Erdogan, a Turkish counterpart reception.
“We do not want to mediate peace behind the scenes without our involvement,” the Ukrainian president said. “Without Ukraine, peace cannot be achieved.”
Additional reports by Polina Ivanova and Anastasia Stognei in Berlin, Ayla Jean Yackley in Istanbul, Henry Foy in Brussels, Leila Abdo in Paris, and George Parker in London
