New Delhi: Russia and the US have agreed to appoint teams that are to work on a way to end the Ukraine war and also to improve bilateral relations during their first high-level talks since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy protested that Ukraine was not invited to the talks held in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday (February 18) and said that negotiations to end the war must not happen behind Kiev’s back.
Following the over four-hour-long talks between the US and Russia – led by secretary of state Marco Rubio and foreign minister Sergey Lavrov respectively – the two sides agreed to appoint “respective high-level teams to begin working on a path to ending the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible”, a readout by the US state department said.
Moscow’s press release issued after the meeting noted that either side “reiterated their mutual commitment to settle the conflict” and that they agreed to “continue joint work in this area through special envoys to be appointed in the near future”.
The meeting reflects a significant departure from Washington’s position under the administration of former President Joe Biden, which avoided public contacts because he believed Russia was not serious about ending the war.
Lavrov characterised Tuesday’s talks as “very useful”.
“We did not just listen but heard each other, and I have reason to believe the American side has better understood our position,” he added.
While Putin’s foreign adviser Yuri Ushakov said that conditions were discussed for a meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, no date for a meeting was announced.
The talks also took place days after Trump had a lengthy phone call Putin and said the two leaders agreed to have teams from their countries begin negotiations “immediately”. The US president had also phoned Zelenskyy.
The latter, who was in Turkey during the talks that took place in Riyadh, said for his part that he was “convinced that for Ukraine and for our region, for Europe, it is critical that any negotiations to end the war are not happening behind the backs of the key parties affected by the Russian aggression”.
He also said he postponed a Wednesday visit to Saudi Arabia to March 10, citing Ukraine’s non-invitation to the talks in Riyadh.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy’s host, Turkish President Recep Erdogan, offered his country as an “ideal” venue for any upcoming talks.
The fast pace of developments on the Russo-American front has sparked unease in European capitals regarding the possibility that the two world powers could strike a deal that sidelines their security interests and enables Putin to threaten Ukraine or other countries in the future.
Rubio said after the talks that said that European nations would have to be involved in talks on ending the war.
The secretary of state also spoke of “extraordinary opportunities existed to partner” with Russia.
The two sides have said they agreed to work on normalising the activities of their respective diplomatic missions – which took a hit after Russia’s 2022 invasion – and to prepare the ground for economic cooperation.
Washington and other Western powers have sanctioned Russia for its 2022 war. When asked whether these could be lifted, Rubio was non-committal, Reuters reported.
The US’ delegation to Riyadh on Tuesday also included national security adviser Mike Waltz and special envoy Steve Witkoff.
With inputs from DW.