US State Department said the meeting in Saudi Arabia aimed at testing the seriousness of Russia's intentions
Kyiv • UNN
Preliminary US-Russian talks on a possible settlement of the conflict in Ukraine are taking place in Riyadh. The USA says that the meeting was aimed at testing the seriousness of Russia's intentions.
The U.S.-Russian meeting in Saudi Arabia is a way to “determine whether the Russians are serious and on the same page” with the United States when it comes to ending the war in Ukraine, said U.S. State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce, writes UNN citing Bloomberg.
Details
Top U.S. and Russian officials began a meeting in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
Television footage showed White House national security adviser Mike Walz, Trump's special envoy for the Middle East Steve Whitkoff and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sitting across from Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan was also there.
After European outrage that the U.S. and Russia were moving forward without any representation from Ukraine, the U.S. clarified that these were preliminary talks, not the start of full-scale negotiations to end the three-year war.
“I don't think people should see this as something about the details or moving forward in any negotiations,” Bruce said.
“The main thing is to start a real normalization of relations between us and Washington,” a member of the Russian delegation, Yuri Ushakov, told Russian state television upon his arrival in Riyadh late Monday night. The meeting will focus on preparations for possible settlement talks in Ukraine and a meeting between the two presidents, he added.
The head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund, Kirill Dmitriev, may join talks to resolve economic issues, Ushakov said. U.S. companies have lost 300 billion dollars due to withdrawal from the Russian market since the war began, Dmitriev said.
Ahead of the talks, Dmitriev, who also traveled to Riyadh, said that progress in talks between Russia and the United States is possible in the next 2-3 months, as reported by rossmedia.
Elon Musk, a Trump adviser, praised the diplomatic blitz. “This is what competent leadership looks like,” he said at X, next to a video of the Russian delegation's arrival in Riyadh.
Rubio and other USA officials have said Ukraine will be part of any talks to resolve the conflict. Still, European leaders were shocked by the speed with which Trump began talks with Putin, especially after Vice President J.D. Vance criticized European governments Friday at the Munich Security Conference.
