The Washington Post said the Russian and US delegations will negotiate on the conflict in Ukraine and bilateral relations. This is the first high-level meeting between the two countries since Russia launched its military campaign in Ukraine in 2022.
Russia sent Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Assistant to President Yuri Ushakov to attend. According to the Kremlin, the talks will focus on restoring Russia-US relations, preparing for a bilateral summit, as well as seeking the possibility of holding dialogues on resolving the conflict in Ukraine.
The US sent Foreign Minister Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and Special Envoy to the Middle East Stephen Witkoff to participate. Previously, Foreign Minister Lavrov said that the proposal to organize this meeting came from the US side and the Russian side was ready to listen to proposals from the US.
The meeting took place just a few weeks after President Donald Trump returned to the White House. Trump previously held a 9-minute phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 12, during which the two sides discussed issues related to Ukraine and exchanges of detained citizens. Mr. Trump believes that Mr. Putin wants to end the war as soon as possible.
In addition to finding a solution to the war in Ukraine, the meeting in Riyadh is also expected to lay the foundation for a summit between President Trump and President Putin in the future. Russian presidential helped Ushakov stress that Russia sees this as an opportunity to normalize bilateral relations with the US. Meanwhile, the Kremlin stressed that one of Russia's priorities in negotiations with the US is to lift some sanctions, especially against senior Russian officials and large businessmen.
Although Russia expressed goodwill in the dialogue, Moscow has maintained that it has no intention of making land cuts. President Putin has asked Ukraine to withdraw from areas it has captured by Russia in 2022, something Kiev will certainly object to.
The Riyadh talks also raised many questions from the European side. Some Western allies have expressed concern about US negotiations with Russia without the participation of Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stressed that any agreement on Ukraine must be attended by Kiev, and called for strong security guarantees for the country. Mr Trump's special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, is expected to visit Kiev this week to hold a direct exchange with the Ukrainian government.
Meanwhile, the Russian side wants to expand the content of the negotiations to bigger issues. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the meeting in Riyadh was not only to find a solution for Ukraine but also the first step to comprehensively restore Russia-US relations. He emphasized that if the international community had previously focused only on continuing the war, now the parties have begun discussing how to end the conflict.
The talks in Saudi Arabia, with the intermediary role of Prince Mohammed bin Salman, are a notable step in efforts to reduce tensions between the two powers. However, the outcome of the dialogue is still a big question mark as the parties maintain their opposing stance.
