Top diplomats from Washington and the Kremlin are now sitting face-to-face in Riyadh, mediated by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as US-Russia talks on ending Moscow’s war against Ukraine officially began on Tuesday, Feb. 18.
Footage from Russian television channel Rossiya-24 shows the representatives sitting at a table in silence, Russian opposition outlet Meduza reported.
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Meduza said the negotiations are taking place in one of the palaces of the Saudi Arabian royal family. Rossiya-24 said the representatives said nothing until the media left the room.
The Russian side is headed by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, while the American side is headed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff and National Security Advisor Michael Waltz.
The meeting, organized after US President Donald Trump’s phone call with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, marks the first high-level meeting between US and Russian officials with the intent of ending Russia’s war against Ukraine since the full-scale invasion in February 2022. Both sides are expected to lay the groundwork to facilitate future peace talks in Riyadh.
Both Washington and Moscow ruled out Ukrainian and European participation at this initial stage, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky vowing not to recognize the results due to a lack of participation by Kyiv.
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Prior to the high-stakes meeting, another meeting on trade and economics took place in Riyadh, according to Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).
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