Russia and the United States have agreed to “do the foundations for future cooperation” in order to end the Ukraine secretary, and a flash normalization of relationships after their first high -ranking discussions about the conflict since President Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
After four and a half hours of negotiations in Riad on Tuesday, the US State Department in Riad said the war And set up a diplomatic channel to solve bilateral problems.
The talks were an extraordinary turn of events after US President Donald Trump called Putin last week to end the war – without consulting Ukraine or its European allies.
“This must be a permanent end of the war and not a temporary end, as we have seen in the past”.
The meeting on Tuesday in Riad has been the first of its kind between the United States and Russia since Moscow February 2022. In a sight that was almost unthinkable a few weeks ago, Russian and US flags flew side by side in front of the opulent palace in which the meeting took place.
“The practical reality is that there will be some discussions about areas and that there will be discussions about security guarantees. These are only fundamental basics,” said Waltz that Trump “was determined to move very quickly”.
In the language, which was largely repeated by the Russian side, the US State Department said that the new diplomatic channel between the two countries would be “the foundation for future cooperation in relation to UkraineKlieg.
Kirill Dmitriev, Managing Director of the Russian sovereign -Wealth Fund, told the Financial Times that the two sides “have restored economic bonds in the areas that are mutual interest”.
Dmitriev, who was in Riad during the talks, refused to indicate specific details, but this could include joint investments in “different companies”, “invest joint companies with American partners” and in the Arctic.
The US Russia approach has triggered fears in the capitals of Kyiv and European capital, which Trump wants Fix the conflict to Moscow understood.
Washington seemed to give some of Putin’s core requirements before Tuesday after they were not “realistic” after they were “realistic” after they can win NATO and to regain the area occupied by Russia.
In a sign of the hard line that Putin would take over against Ukraine, the Russian side emphasized that it was “important to pay the initial reasons for the conflict and to ensure“ the legal interests of all countries in the region ”.
This indicated that the Kremlin aims to conquer large areas of Ukraine and make it so impossible for the country to remain a functioning state.
Russia has excluded a role in Europe in the talks and called NATO an open invitation from 2008 for Ukraine to join alliance.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that after the US Russian talks he moved a visit to Saudi Arabia and described on Tuesday as a “surprise”.
Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy consultant, said that the United States and Russia would work to “create the conditions for a Trump-Putin meeting, but he said that this would probably not take place next week, since“ thorough work ”was first necessary .
The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the two sides had agreed to “ensure the immediate appointment of ambassadors to the capitals of the other and to remove the obstacles that the bidges have set up in relation to our diplomatic missions”.
These obstacles included “the designation of diplomats, the question of confiscation of our ownership and bank transactions,” said Lavrov. “Our MPs will soon agree on a meeting to evaluate the need for these obstacles,” he added.
The normalization of bilateral relationships would have to raise the US sanctions against Russia, which was one of the main requirements of Moscow.
Rubio said the EU “will be at the table at some point because they also have sanctions (on Russia)”.
When asked which concessions Moscow would make in return, the US Foreign Minister said that such a step would result from a “hard, difficult diplomacy” in “closed rooms over a certain period of time”.
He added: “Nobody is excluded here.” According to a spokesman for the US State Department, Rubio informed the Foreign Minister in France, Germany, Italy and Great Britain about his meeting with Lavrov.
“The group agreed to stay in close contact because we are working to achieve a permanent end of the conflict in Ukraine,” they added.
While Europe is trying to react to the US Russian talks, French President Emmanuel Macron is planning an emergency meeting of the European leader on Wednesday, which so far this week, the people who have been informed about the plans.
The meeting is largely intended for countries that were not invited to the previous summit on Monday Guide collided By sending peace security forces to Ukraine. While the United Kingdom offered to put “boots on the ground”, Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain contradicted themselves.
Lavrov said on Tuesday that every European peace security mission was “unacceptable”. He also implied that Moscow had rejected a US request to stop attacks on the Ukrainian energy infrastructure, and incorrectly claimed that Russia had not attacked any civilians.
Waltz said that the USA had “shuttle diplomacy” and had consulted Zelensky and Macron, while Trump will meet British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starrer next week.
He rejected the “idea that our allies were not consulted”.
Kyiv said it will reject everyone Deal imposed Without participation, while the European countries are trying to push a seat back at the table.
When the talks took place on Tuesday, Zelenskyy visited his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who previously tried to play a broking role in conflict.
“We don’t want peace to be conveyed behind the scenes without our commitment,” said the Ukrainian President. “Peace cannot be achieved without Ukraine.”
Additional reporting by Anastasia StoGnei in Berlin, Ayla Jean Yackley in Istanbul, Henry Foy in Brussels, Leila Abboud in Paris and George Parker in London
