High-Level Russian, US Officials Meet for Peace Talks in Saudi Arabia

On Tuesday, the U.S. and Russian diplomats in charge of foreign affairs met in Saudi Arabia to discuss ways to strengthen ties and end the conflict in Ukraine. These discussions marked a major change in American foreign policy under President Donald Trump.

No Ukrainian officials attended the meeting, which comes as the struggling nation steadily loses ground to the larger Russian forces in a war that has dragged on for nearly three years. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine will not accept any outcome from this week’s talks without Kyiv’s participation.

The Allies of Europe are concerned about being marginalized.

Marco Rubio (US Senator) will attend the meeting along with Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, and other senior officials. The focus of the meeting is to prepare for a meeting between Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Dmitry Peskov (Kremlin spokesperson) told reporters Monday that the focus of the discussion will be on “restoring all aspects U.S.-Russian relations, as well as preparing for potential talks about the Ukrainian solution and organizing a meeting of the two presidents. “

State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said that the meeting was held to determine whether Russians are serious about wanting peace and if detailed negotiations can be initiated.

After the recent U.S. campaign of diplomatic pressure on the war, Ukraine and its allies are scrambling to get a place at the negotiating table. They are afraid that Washington and Moscow will push through an agreement that is not in their favor.

The lack of participation by Kyiv in the Tuesday talks angered many Ukrainians. France called an emergency meeting to discuss the conflict with the U.K.

Bruce stated that although Ukraine will not be present at the peace talks on Tuesday, the actual negotiations would still include the country. Kyiv played a major role in U.S. Foreign Policy under Joe Biden. His administration was the leader of the international effort to isolate Russia due to the war.

White House officials refuted that Europe was not included in the discussion by stating they had spoken to several leaders.

On February 2, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that he spoke by phone to Trump and Zelenskyy following the meeting he attended in Paris.

Macron wrote on social media platform X, “We seek a strong, durable peace in Ukraine.” He added, “To achieve this goal, Russia must end its aggressive behavior and this has to be accompanied by strong, credible security guarantees for Ukrainians.”

Peskov stated on Tuesday that Putin has repeatedly expressed his willingness for peace talks. Peskov also said that “a comprehensive and long-term viable settlement” of the conflict in Ukraine is impossible without “a thorough examination of security concerns in Europe”.

The meeting at Diriyah Palace in Riyadh also highlights Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia. He wants to repair his damaged reputation after the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

Saudi state media reported the prince as being in charge of discussions. Like the United Arab Emirates, the Saudis have maintained close relations with Russia throughout its war in Ukraine. The OPEC+ cartel and diplomatic channels were used to achieve this.

Saudi Arabia assisted in prisoner negotiations and Zelenskyy hosted the country in 2023 for an Arab League Summit. Zelenskyy has announced that he is traveling to Saudi Arabia this week.

Rubio was accompanied by U.S. national security adviser Mike Waltz and special envoy Steve Witkoff, while Lavrov sat next to the Kremlin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov. Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan and National Security Adviser Musaed al Alban joined Rubio, Lavrov, and others for the start of the meeting but were expected to leave early in the talks.

Before the talks, Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund who has been invited by the Kremlin to attend the meeting, highlighted the importance of the meeting.

“Good U.S.-Russia relations are important to the world as a whole. Only together can Russia, the U.S., and other countries tackle many world problems, solve global conflicts, and offer solutions”, Dmitriev said to The Associated Press. He also stated that his group and he would focus on economic issues in the discussions.

Citing a Russian delegation, Al Arabiya, a Saudi satellite station described the top priority of Moscow as “realizing a normal relationship with Washington”.

It is the first meeting between the two countries since the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022. Lavrov spoke briefly with Antony Blinken, then the U.S. Secretary of State at the time, on the sidelines of the G-20 summit held in India two years ago. The U.S. and Russian spymasters met in Turkey in the fall of that year to discuss Washington’s concerns that Moscow could resort to nuclear weapons if it lost a battle.

According to the Kyiv Military, Russia continues to bombard Ukraine using drones. The Ukrainian Air Force claims that Russian troops have fired 176 drones in Ukraine overnight. Jamming rendered most of them inoperable or destroyed.

A Russian drone hit a residential building in Dolynska, Kirovohrad region, injuring a mother and her two children, and prompting the evacuation of 38 apartments, according to regional authorities. In the Cherkasy region, local officials reported that drone debris damaged four additional residential buildings.