Top Russia, US Officials To Meet In Saudi Arabia On Tuesday

Top US and Russian diplomats will meet in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for talks on resetting the international locations’ fractured relations and making a tentative begin on attempting to finish the Ukraine warfare.

Either side performed down the probabilities that the primary high-level assembly between the international locations since Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022 would lead to a breakthrough.

However, the actual fact of the talks has triggered concern in Kyiv and Europe — left reeling by Washington’s dramatic diplomatic strikes in direction of the Kremlin.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday accused Washington of wanting “to please” Russian President Valdimir Putin by “now saying issues which can be very beneficial” to him.

He beforehand revealed that Kyiv had not been invited to the discussions in Riyadh.

In the meantime, European leaders have been gathering in Paris for emergency talks on how to answer the unconventional pivot by the brand new US administration.

Preparations for a attainable summit between presidents Donald Trump and Putin are additionally set to be on the agenda.

Trump is pushing for a swift decision to the three-year battle in Ukraine, whereas Moscow sees his outreach as an opportunity to achieve concessions on a few of its long-standing gripes about Washington’s navy presence in Europe.

Zelensky mentioned Kyiv “didn’t know something about” the talks in Riyadh, in response to Ukrainian information companies, and that it “can’t recognise any issues or any agreements about us with out us”.

Moscow mentioned forward of the assembly that Putin and Trump needed to maneuver on from “irregular relations” and that it noticed no place for Europeans to be at any negotiating desk.

Russia’s Overseas Minister Sergei Lavrov and senior Putin aide Yuri Ushakov, who arrived in Riyadh late on Monday in response to photos proven by the Rossiya 24 information channel, will meet with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Nationwide Safety Advisor Mike Waltz and Particular Envoy Steve Witkoff.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov instructed reporters that the talks can be “primarily dedicated to restoring the entire advanced of Russian-American relations”, alongside discussions on “attainable negotiations on a Ukrainian decision, and organising a gathering between the 2 presidents”.

Moscow, which for years has sought to roll again NATO’s presence in Europe, has made clear it desires to carry bilateral talks with the US on a plethora of broad safety points, not only a attainable Ukraine ceasefire.

Earlier than invading in February 2022, Putin was demanding the navy alliance pull its troops, tools and bases out of a number of japanese members that have been beneath Moscow’s sphere of affect through the Chilly Conflict.

The prospects of any talks resulting in an settlement to halt the Ukraine combating are unclear.

Each Moscow and Washington have solid the assembly as the start of a doubtlessly prolonged course of.

“I do not suppose that folks ought to view this as one thing that’s about particulars or transferring ahead in some form of a negotiation,” US State Division spokesperson Tammy Bruce mentioned.

Russia’s Ushakov instructed state media that the talks would focus on ” begin negotiations on Ukraine.”

“The duties are kind of clear to us,” he added.

Each Kyiv and Moscow have dominated out territorial concessions and Putin final yr demanded Ukraine withdraw its troops from much more territory.

Zelensky will journey to Turkey on Tuesday to debate the battle with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after which Saudi Arabia a day later.

He doesn’t plan to carry talks with both the US or Russian delegations, his spokesman mentioned on Monday.

Zelensky mentioned final week he was ready to satisfy Putin, however solely after Kyiv and its allies had a standard place on ending the warfare.

As European leaders gathered in Paris for an emergency safety summit, Russia’s Lavrov on Monday mentioned he noticed no level in them collaborating in any Ukraine talks.

“I do not know what they might do on the negotiating desk… if they’ll sit on the negotiating desk with the goal of continuous warfare, then why invite them there?,” he instructed a press convention in Moscow.

Germany on Monday mentioned “direct contact between the Individuals and the Russians is just not a nasty factor whether it is about discovering a strategy to a sturdy and lasting peace.”

Moscow heads into the Saudi talks boosted by latest beneficial properties on the battlefield.

Its higher resourced troops are pushing Ukraine again throughout the 1,000-kilometre (620-mile) entrance line.

Kyiv additionally faces the prospect of shedding important US navy assist, lengthy criticised by Trump, and being compelled to depend on European backing.

On Monday, Zelensky mentioned that Europe’s navy capabilities have been “weak”.

Russia’s military on Monday mentioned its forces had captured a small settlement in northeastern Ukraine and likewise retaken management of a village in its western Kursk area, the place Ukraine launched a shock counter-offensive final August.