Senior American and Russian officials, including the best diplomats in countries, will hold conferences on improving their links and negotiations from the end of War in UkraineThe Kremlin said on Monday, in what would be the most important meeting between the parties since the Moscow large -scale invasion almost three years ago.
The talks, scheduled for Tuesday in Saudi Arabia, mark another powerful step by the Trump administration To reverse American policy On the isolation of Russia, and are supposed to open the way to a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The movements sent Kyiv allies and keys to ensure a seat at the table, and France called a emergency meeting Countries of the European Union and the United Kingdom on Monday to decide how to contact the American Blitz.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Foreign Affairs Advisor Yuri Ushakov will go to the Saudi capital later. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and special envoy Steve Witkoff will meet the Russian delegation, said State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce. Ukraine will not participate.
Peskov has said that talks will focus mainly on the “restoration of the entire American-Russian relations complex, as well as the preparation of possible talks on the Ukrainian regulations and the organization of a meeting of the two presidents” .
Speaking on the Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” program, Witkoff said that he and Waltz “would have meetings towards the president” and will hope “very good progress in terms of Russia-Ukraine”.
In his television interview, Witkoff did not respond directly to a question on the question of whether Ukraine should abandon an “important part” of its territory within the framework of any negotiated regulations. US Secretary for Defense Pete Hegseth said last week That membership of NATO for Ukraine was not realistic and suggested that kyiv should abandon the hope of winning all his territory of Russia – two Key elements on the list of poutine wishes.
Lavrov and then the Secretary of State of the United States Antony Blinken Briefly spoken on the touch of a G-20 Meeting in India almost two years ago. The two chatted for about 10 minutes, and there was no indication of a movement towards the relaxation of the intense tensions between their two nations at the time. In the fall of 2022, the American and Russian Spymasters species met in Türkiye.
Tuesday’s talks will follow last week’s telephone call between US President Donald Trump and Putin in which Trump said they “agreed that our respective teams are immediately starting negotiations.” The call upset the years of American politics, ending Moscow’s isolation during its February 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine. After the call, Trump telephoned the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy To inform him of their conversation.
Trump told journalists on Sunday that Zelenskyy would be involved “, but had not developed. Zelenskyy said on Monday that his country had not been invited to the upcoming talks and would not accept the result if Ukraine does not participate. Ukraine’s participation in any peace talks had been the foundation of American policy under the predecessor of Trump, Joe Biden.
Addressing journalists at a conference call for the United Arab Emirates, Zelenskyy said that the meeting “would give no results”, given the absence of Ukrainian civil servants.
Zelenskyy said he would go to Turkey on Monday and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, but that his trip to the Arab nation was not linked to the discussions planned by American Russia on Tuesday. Andriy Yermak, a high adviser from Zelenskyy, said that there was no possibility that Ukrainian and Russian representatives meet directly “until we develop a plan” to end the war and provoke a ” just peace ”.
EU officials pushed the block to have their say in all peace talks in Ukraine, and Zelenskyy and its officials also insisted that Europe should be present during negotiations.
Lavrov was disdainful when he was asked about a possible role for Europe, saying that “I don’t know what they have to do at the negotiating table”.
