Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov have met for talks on the future of the Ukraine war, but even before sitting down, Russia made clear it was approaching things with a hard bargaining mindset.
Images of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, flanked by America’s Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and sitting opposite Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and President Putin’s advisor Yuri Ushakov have been published as talks begin on Tuesday morning.
It is the first high-level talks between the U.S. and Russia since Moscow launched a second invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago. The talks are taking place at the Al Diriyah Palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and are being mediated by Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud. They are not intended to find answers for the Ukraine War directly but rather to create an environment where, later, the U.S. and Russian Presidents can meet face-to-face for real negotiations.
Indeed, President Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that from a Russian perspective, the primary purpose of today’s talks is “restoring the whole complex of Russian-American relations” and organising a future leader meeting. Despite the narrow intent of today’s talks, European leaders, including Ukraine, have expressed disquiet at not being invited to attend. Ukraine has vowed to ignore any peace deal agreed over its head, and European leaders held their own “emergency” summit on Monday to discuss what was characterised beforehand as “the challenges posed by Trump.” (Read More)
