Russia and US agree to ‘lay the groundwork’ for future negotiations as first face-to-face talks on Ukraine conclude
The delegations held a meeting lasting over five hours in Riyadh. Moscow dampened enthusiasm by stating ‘it is still difficult to talk about rapprochement’
The United States and Russia have negotiated face-to-face for the first time since Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine almost three years ago. Delegations led by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met in Riyadh Tuesday to discuss Ukraine and the future world order they are preparing, in the absence of two key parties in the process: Kyiv and the European Union. At the conclusion of the meeting, they agreed to “lay the groundwork for future cooperation” between the two countries, a process they hope will lead to “a successful end to the conflict in Ukraine,” according to a statement released by the State Department. With somewhat less enthusiasm, Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said: “It is still difficult to talk about a rapprochement between the positions of Moscow and Washington,” although the more than five hours of talks, in his opinion, were “not bad.”
