Russia and US to appoint negotiators for Ukraine war talks
Washington announced that Russia and the United States will appoint teams to negotiate a path toward ending the war in Ukraine as soon as possible. This came after the two superpowers met on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia, without the presence of Kiev or the EU.
However, no specifics on a possible meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin emerged from the gathering in Riyadh, the first high-level official Washington-Moscow talks since Ukraine's 2022 invasion, News.Az reports citing foreign media.
Some European leaders, alarmed by Trump's overhaul of U.S. policy on Russia, fear Washington will make serious concessions to Moscow and re-write the continent's security arrangement in a Cold War-style deal between superpowers.
On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed to "appoint respective high-level teams to begin working on a path to ending the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible", the State Department said.
Washington added the sides had also agreed to "establish a consultation mechanism" to address "irritants" to Russia and America's relationship, noting the sides would lay the groundwork for future cooperation.
Russia offered less detail on the outcome of the talks, saying: "We discussed and outlined our principled positions, and agreed that separate teams of negotiators will be in touch on this topic in due course."
The two delegations' bilateral talks lasted about 4.5 hours, and according to Ushakov, the negotiations "went well."
"There was a very serious conversation on all the issues we wanted to raise," Ushakov told journalists after the meeting, according to Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
Russia sketched out some of its perspectives on future talks to ending the fighting in Ukraine, arguing that settling the war required a reorganisation of Europe's defense agreements.
Moscow has long called for the withdrawal of NATO forces from eastern Europe, viewing the alliance as an existential threat on its flank.
"A lasting and long-term viable resolution is impossible without a comprehensive consideration of security issues on the continent," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday, responding to a question by AFP.
Before invading Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow had demanded NATO pull out of central and eastern Europe.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in Türkiye on Tuesday, said on the eve of the talks that he was not invited and would not "recognise any things or any agreements about us without us".
Isolated by the West for three years, Russia is hoping for a "restoration" of ties with the United States and a comeback to the international arena.
At the Diriyah Palace in Riyadh, negotiations began without visible handshakes.
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