Senior officials from Russia and the U.S. met in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday (February 18, 2025) to start talks on enhancing ties and negotiating an finish to the war in Ukraine.
Delegations led by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met on the Diriyah Palace in Riyadh. The assembly marks one other pivotal step by the Trump administration to reverse the US. coverage on isolating Russia and is supposed to pave the way in which for a gathering between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Mr. Trump earlier this month upended U.S. coverage towards Ukraine and Russia by saying he and Mr. Putin had agreed to start negotiations on ending the war.
Ukrainian officials aren’t collaborating within the assembly, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated Monday (February 17, 2025) that his nation will not settle for the end result if Kyiv does not participate.
Mr. Rubio was accompanied by U.S. nationwide safety adviser Mike Waltz and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, whereas Lavrov sat subsequent to the Kremlin’s international affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov. Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan and National Security Adviser Musaed al Alban joined Mr. Rubio, Mr. Lavrov and others for the beginning of the assembly however had been anticipated to go away early within the talks.
Mr. Ushakov stated on Monday (February 17, 2025) the talks could be “purely bilateral” and wouldn’t embrace Ukrainian officials.
The talks mark a major growth of U.S.-Russian contacts practically three years right into a war that has seen ties fall to the bottom stage in many years.
Mr. Lavrov and then-U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken talked briefly on the sidelines of a G-20 assembly in India practically two years in the past, and within the fall of 2022, U.S. and Russian spymasters met in Turkiye amid Washington’s issues that Moscow might resort to nuclear weapons amid battlefield setbacks.
The latest U.S. diplomatic blitz on the war has despatched Kyiv and key allies scrambling to make sure a seat on the desk amid issues that Washington and Moscow might press forward with a deal that will not be beneficial to them.
France referred to as an emergency assembly of European Union international locations and the U.Okay. on Monday (February 17, 2025) to resolve learn how to reply.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday (February 18, 2025) stated he spoke by cellphone to Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy following the assembly.
“We seek a strong and lasting peace in Ukraine,” Mr. Macron wrote on X. “To achieve this, Russia must end its aggression, and this must be accompanied by strong and credible security guarantees for the Ukrainians,” he stated and vowed to “work on this together with all Europeans, Americans, and Ukrainians.”
Ahead of the talks, Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund who the Kremlin said might join the talks, underscored the importance of the meeting in comments to The Associated Press.
“Good US-Russia relations are very important for the whole world. Only jointly can Russia and the US address lots of world problems, resolve for global conflicts and offer solutions,” Mr. Dmitriev, who said he and his team would focus on economic issues at the talks, told AP.
The Saudi-owned satellite channel Al Arabiya, citing the Russian delegation, described Moscow’s priority as “real normalisation with Washington”.
Diriyah Palace sits across the street from Riyadh’s Diplomatic Quarter. It’s also just next to the Ritz Carlton hotel, which became famous in 2017 after de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman detained other princes and the country’s elite there as part of what the royal court called a crackdown on corruption, which also sidelined any potential challenge to his taking control of the kingdom.
Hosting the talks is a major step toward a goal Prince Mohammed has pursued throughout the war — putting the kingdom in the middle of diplomatic negotiations. It has helped in prisoner negotiations and hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for an Arab League summit in the kingdom in 2023. Mr. Zelenskyy will likely travel to Saudi Arabia later this week.
For Prince Mohammed, once described as a “pariah” by former President Joe Biden over the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, hosting such talks burnish the otherwise-tarnished image the West has for him.
Ahead of the summit, the Saudi daily newspaper Okaz described the moment as the “world’s eye on Riyadh”.
Writing in the London-based but Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq Al Awsat, journalist Mishari al-Dhaidi described the summit as “a serious step on the worldwide political chess area, revealing the standing of Saudi Arabia and its constructive affect for the good thing about the individuals all of the individuals”, he wrote.
The neighbouring United Arab Emirates, the prince additionally has maintained shut relations to Russia all through its war on Ukraine, each by way of the OPEC+ oil cartel and diplomatically as nicely.
Hosting the summit additionally balances the cruel criticism just lately levied by the dominion’s tightly managed media at President Trump over his repeated feedback that he needs the U.S. to “own” the Gaza Strip, which has been devastated by the Israeli army offensive there for the reason that October 7, 2023, Hamas assault.
The Palestinians need Gaza and the West Bank for a future state, one thing backed by the broader Arab world and practically all the worldwide group.
Meanwhile, Russia continued to pummel Ukraine with drones, in line with Kyiv’s army. The Ukrainian air power stated 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 in Kirovohrad area, injuring a mom and her two youngsters and prompting an evacuation of 38 flats, the regional administration reported. Four extra residential buildings had been broken by drone particles within the Cherkasy area of Ukraine, in line with native officials.
Published – February 18, 2025 02:28 pm IST
