Rubio in the United States in Riyadh, Russia Lavrov en route, with expected Ukraine discussions – Politico

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Lavrov and Ushakov “flew to Riyadh on behalf of” Russian president Vladimir Putin.

“It is planned that Tuesday in Riyadh, they will hold a meeting with their American counterparts, who will be devoted mainly to the restoration of the whole complex of Russian-American relations,” Peskov told journalists in Moscow.

Rubio’s trip follows last week’s call between Trump and Putin. The two leaders agreed that their teams begin negotiations “immediately” when they announced a future face -to -face meeting in Saudi Arabia.

“Presidents Putin and Trump, when they spoke on the phone, agreed to leave an absolutely abnormal period in relations between the two major powers,” Lavrov said in Moscow on a press conference on Monday after a press conference after a press conference after a press conference after a press conference after a press conference after Discussions with Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric.

“And the presidents agreed that it was necessary to regain dialogue on all questions that can be resolved in one way or another with the participation of Russia and the United States,” said Lavrov.

On Saturday, Zelenskyy expressed his surprise against the scheduled meeting in Saudi Arabia, despite the fact that the American party said kyiv was invited earlier. “I saw that someone said there would be a meeting in Saudi Arabia. I don’t know what it is, “said Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

Zelenskyy, who is in the United Arab Emirates for a visit planned earlier, said that he also wanted to visit Saudi and Turkey Arabia, but does not plan to meet US or Russian officials.

At the Munich conference, senior European officials stressed that Ukraine must be directly involved in all talks between Trump and Putin. The EU was not invited to the negotiating table.

Some European leaders should meet in Paris later Monday for an emergency summit on security guarantees on Ukraine, because the role of kyiv and Europe in the expected peace talks is not more in clearer.

Rubio said on Sunday that Trump was “the only world leader” capable of advancing peace talks in Ukraine.

“A telephone call does not make a peace,” said Rubio on the “Face The Nation” program on CBS. “A telephone call does not solve a war as complex as it, but I can tell you that Donald Trump is the only leader in the world who could potentially start this process,” he said.

“Peace” is not a name; it is a verb. It is an action, “said Rubio.” You have to take concrete steps towards him. “

Elena Giordano and Gabriel Gavin contributed to this report.