The meeting took place within a span of just over four hours, in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh. On one side sat an American delegation led by Foreign Minister Marco Rubio and on the other a Russian delegation led by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
The meeting took place barely three years after Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine, when large parts of the world chose to sever ties with Russia and treat its war-crime-accused leader Vladimir Putin as a pariah.
The new US government says it has now taken important steps towards continued cooperation with Russia. The ambassadors in the respective countries will return to full activity. Negotiations about the war will take place between high-level delegations to reach "an end to the conflict in Ukraine", it is said.
"Fair and lasting" end
US Foreign Minister Marco Rubio said at a press conference afterwards that the American government wants the war to come to a "fair and lasting" end. He talks about the need for concessions from all parties involved. Eased sanctions are reported to have been high on the Russian agenda.
The European Union will need to be at the table sooner or later, since they have also imposed sanctions, says Rubio.
In Riyadh, no decision was made about a possible meeting between Presidents Trump and Putin, which has been said to be possible in the near future.
Peace or ceasefire?
US President Donald Trump has promised to reach some kind of peace solution in no time. Trump has bypassed Ukraine and its allies in the EU and spoken directly with Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine has said it will not accept any plan that its government has not been involved in negotiating. In recent weeks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj has spoken with Donald Trump, who according to reports has made sharp demands that Ukraine provide the US with rare earth metals worth billions in exchange for continued support.
The Ukrainian president is directing sharp criticism at Tuesday's meeting in Saudi Arabia and says during a visit to Turkey that the talks are taking place "between representatives of Russia and representatives of the USA. About Ukraine – once again about Ukraine – and without Ukraine".
Zelenskyj was also scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, but is now postponing the trip, which is interpreted as not wanting the visit to be linked to the talks between the USA and Russia, writes AP.
On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine, but the Russian forces met strong resistance and a multi-year war ensued. Russian forces entered the neighboring country as early as 2014, which led to the illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula and a simmering conflict in Donbass in the east.
The independent Ukraine's balancing act between East and West had been put to the test in 2014, when massive demonstrations broke out against the Russia-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych after he backed down from a cooperation agreement with the EU. During a few days, over 100 people were killed in the protests. Yanukovych was ousted by parliament and fled to Moscow.
When Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the large-scale war, he claimed to have demanded "security guarantees" and veto power over Ukraine's desire to join NATO. He has claimed that the state of Ukraine has no right to exist, with lies about its democratically elected government being a "Nazi regime" that is committing genocide against ethnic Russians.
Ukraine's allies, primarily the USA and the EU, have provided the Ukrainian defense with significant support and punished Russia with sanctions for the invasion war. In Moscow, the war has over time come to be described in existential terms, as a conflict between Russia and a united Western world.
The USA was represented by Foreign Minister Marco Rubio, Trump's national security adviser Mike Waltz, and Steve Witkoff, the president's Middle East envoy, who has gained an increasingly important role in the Ukraine war as well.
Russia was represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Vladimir Putin's foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov, who previously served as ambassador to Washington DC. Also on their trip was Kirill Dmitriev, head of a state-owned Russian investment fund.
