Top diplomats from the United States and Russia met in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital, on Tuesday to discuss how to end the Ukrainian war and rebuild ragged diplomatic ties between the two major powers.
The talks marked the first high-level communication between Washington and Moscow since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and their bilateral relations have since fallen to historic lows.
Here are the key points of the Riyadh conversation, what can we expect next:
Russia and the United States have agreed to form a senior team to negotiate a solution to the war with Ukraine, which triggers what analysts call a new Cold War, a new Cold War that leaves Moscow with the United States and its NATO Allies in Europe.
The United States is represented by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Special Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff, while Russia is represented by Moscow Foreign Affairs Advisor Yu Yuri Ushakov accompanied the representative of Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
After the meeting, Rubio told the Associated Press that both Russia and the United States would form senior teams and delegate support for Ukraine’s peace talks.
Rubio added that ending the war in Ukraine could open up the United States and Russia to have the opportunity to work with mutually beneficial areas, “Hopefully this will be good for the world and improve our relationship in the long run.”
Both sides said they would continue negotiations as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was forgotten. Zelenskyy said he would not accept any deals implemented on his country, which lost nearly 20% of its territory to Russia.
The negotiations come a week after U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Trump's proposal for Putin reversed Washington's policy toward Ukraine, ending a three-year policy to isolate Moscow.
Trump said on Tuesday that he was “more confident” in the Ukrainian peace deal after the talks in Riyadh, the first high-level talks since Lavrov, whom he met in Geneva in 2022.
"Russia wants to do something," Trump said in Florida, abandoning Ukraine's concerns about being excluded from the meeting and said Kiev should have attended the talks earlier.
"I think I have the ability to end this war," he said.
During talks at the Diriyah Palace in Riyadh, the two sides agreed to repair diplomatic and economic ties that had particularly worsened after the outbreak of the Ukrainian war about three years ago.
Lavrov said the two sides agreed to a quick appointment of the new ambassador, adding that senior diplomats from both countries would soon meet to discuss specific details related to "the obstacles that would make human-made obstacles in response to the U.S. and Russian embassies and other tasks. Transparent
Both countries expel each other's diplomats, and the United States and its Western allies cast a portion of economic sanctions against Russia. After Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, diplomatic rifts between the United States and Russia widened.
Rubio stressed that “unless we are at least in the way the diplomatic missions in Moscow and Washington, D.C. are at least in the way we operate.”
Since the 2022 invasion, the United States and its allies have imposed at least 21,692 sanctions on Russia. Many U.S. companies quit when the Biden administration pushed for global quarantine of Russia.
Russia's GDP fell by about 2.1% in 2022, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Moscow already hopes to receive a return from a U.S. company.
Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian direct investment fund Moscow Wealth Fund, said that according to the Russian News Agency's Russian News Agency on Wednesday.
Dmitriev told Reuters that the U.S. companies lost $32.4 billion.
Representatives of NATO allies in Ukraine and Washington did not appear from the negotiating table, and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on Wednesday refused any concessions to Russia.
However, Rubio and Lavrov both said that “all aspects” must make “concessions” to end the conflict.
On the day when U.S. diplomats were in talks with Russian counterparts in face-to-face negotiations, Zelenskyy landed in Ankara to speak with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“In Saudi Arabia, the Russian-American meeting was a surprise for us, just like it did to many others. Honestly, I really don’t care. What matters to me is that our partners are It takes some time to think about us,” Zelenskyy said in a press conference.
"Well, you've been there for three years and you should end it," Trump said of Ukraine's concerns about being excluded from the negotiations.
Trump appears to question Zelenskyy's legitimacy as a leader because he demands that Ukraine should hold elections. The U.S. president claims that Zelenskyy's approval rate is only 4%, without evidence.
Zelenskyy said at a press conference in Kiev that Trump “lives in disinformation caused by Russia.”
European leaders who see Russia as the biggest security threat have also expressed their concerns as Trump is far from Moscow's propaganda.
Rubio said on Tuesday that "they will be engaged to Ukraine with our partners in Europe and others. But ultimately, the Russian side will be essential for this effort."
Ukraine and European countries seek security assurances for Russian aggression when reaching a peace agreement. "We understand the need for security assurance," Trump's envoy to Ukraine, said in Kiev on Wednesday.
But the Trump administration wants Europe to provide security assurances to Ukraine, saying the United States has other priorities, such as border security.
Trump also wants European countries to increase their defense spending to 5% of their GDP. That's higher than what NATO members promised in 2014, at least 2% of their GDP. Now, only 23 of the 32 members have maintained that commitment.
Diplomatic dialogue offers Russia an opportunity as it hopes to end punishment sanctions, including the price cap on Russian oil exports. Trump also supports Moscow's return to G7 - the Rich Club.
The Ukrainian leader accused the United States of helping Moscow end global quarantine on Wednesday.
"This is not positive for Ukraine. "This is their way of getting Putin out of isolation and the Russians are happy because the focus of the discussion is on them," Zelenskyy said in a press conference on Wednesday. ”
During the negotiations, Russia did not provide concessions and believed that the deployment of NATO forces in Ukraine was "completely unacceptable".
Last week, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said it was "unrealistic" for Ukraine to join NATO.
Lavrov expressed his appreciation to Trump on Wednesday: “He is the only Western leader to speak out openly and loudly, he is one of the fundamental reasons for the situation in Ukraine, he is the only Western leader, he is the rudeness of the former government. Attract Ukraine into NATO.”
After the meeting, Rubio told reporters that Washington and Moscow did not decide on the dates for Trump and Putin. Waltz speculates that the meeting can be held in the coming weeks.
Russian media reported that Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that Trump and Putin may meet as early as this month.
Trump suggested at a press conference on Tuesday at Mar-A-Lago estate that he may meet Putin by the end of this month.
Peskov also told reporters that Putin would address Zelenskyy "if necessary." Putin had previously been reluctant to talk to the President of Kiev and questioned the legitimacy of his leadership.