The United States, Russia speaks in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which exceeds Ukraine
Senior American and Russian officials in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia were scheduled to meet on Tuesday to obtain the most comprehensive negotiations between the two countries in at least three years, as President Trump pushes the end of the war in Ukraine and the Kremlin seeks warmer relations with Washington.
After arriving in Raydeh, the Saudi capital, Russian officials said they would seek “normalization” with the United States, so that it is even possible that the major American oil companies will return to Russia. Ukraine and Europe were watching a distance with deep concerns, amid fears that Mr. Trump could try to force a peace agreement on Ukraine, which will be favorable to Russia.
The meeting comes less than a week after Mr. Trump’s long phone call to President Vladimir F. Putin from Russia. Mr. Trump then said that the two leaders talked about the “great benefit” that links the United States and Russia “one day to work together”, and that the two leaders agreed to “start negotiations immediately” to end the war in Ukraine.
The American delegation in Riyadh is leading Marco Rubio, Foreign Minister; Michael Walt, National Security Adviser; Steve Witkev, Mr. Trump’s envoy in the Middle East and a long friend of the president. They were expected to meet on Tuesday with Russian officials, including Sergey F. Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Yuri Ushakov, Foreign Policy Adviser to Putin; And Kirill Dimitrev, head of the Russian sovereign wealth fund.
Mr. Oshkov told reporters after landing in Riyadh that the goal of the talks is “the start of a real normalization of the relationship between us and Washington.”
Mr. Dimitriev, who worked with Mr. Witkev to mediate the release last week of an American teacher imprisoned in Russia, said that he would seek to restart economic cooperation with the United States to “rebuild communication, rebuild confidence, and rebuild success.”
“The American oil specialties in Russia have succeeded,” Mr. Dmitriev said in a brief interview on Tuesday before the start of the talks, as it presented an example of how to rebuild trade relations. “We think at some point they will return, because why do they give up these opportunities that Russia granted to reach Russian natural resources?”
The leading western oil companies, including Exxon Mobil, left Russia after Mr. Putin’s widely invaded Ukraine almost three years ago. Energy and economic relations were among the issues of the call between Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump last week, according to Mr. Trump and the Kremlin.
Tuesday’s discussions will be the first time since early 2022 that it is known that the wide delegations of American and Russian officials have met personally. The meeting is another step in Mr. Trump’s attempt to end the diplomatic isolation of Russia, which former President Joseph R. Biden Junior has enforced it since the beginning of the invasion – a step that the Trump administration says is necessary to stop a war.
“If there is a possibility to advance here towards peace, we will need to speak to the Russians.”
But in Europe and Ukraine, news of the planned talks on Tuesday was confused and worried. While Mr. Rubio described the talks as preliminary, there was widespread criticism in Europe that Mr. Trump’s approach to Russia was not coordinated with US allies. Ukrainian officials insisted that they reject any agreement on their country negotiated without being involved.
“We cannot learn about any trade agreements on us without us,” said President Voludmir Zelinski from Ukraine on Monday.
Mr. Zelensky is also in the Gulf region this week, where many countries have sought to use their relations with Moscow, Kiev and the West to play roles as mediators in the Ukraine war. On Monday, Mr. Zellinski was in the United Arab Emirates to discuss the exchanges of prisoners and the return of Ukrainian children from Russia.
Ukrainian officials have also said that Mr. Zellinski will be in Saudi Arabia this week, but Ukraine has not been invited to the United States and Russian talks. The Kremlin Foreign Policy Adviser, Mr. Oshkov, said that there are no plans to hold a triple meeting with the Ukrainians.
“We came here to have negotiations with American colleagues,” he said.
Andrew E. Kramer has contributed to KyIV reports, Ukraine.
