US and Russia agree to create team to negotiate Ukraine peace

Officials at talks between Russia and the US have agreed to restore embassy staffing and create a high-level team to negotiate peace in Ukraine and promote economic co-operation, US secretary of state Marco Rubio has said.

Mr Rubio said that actions over the last years have reduced both countries’ diplomatic missions’ abilities to operate.

He said: “We’re going to need to have vibrant diplomatic missions that are able to function normally in order to be able to continue these conduits.”

He added: “Should this conflict come to an acceptable end, the incredible opportunities that exist to partner with the Russians geopolitically on issues of common interest and frankly, economically, on issues that hopefully will be good for the world and also improve our relations in the long term.”.

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US reversal

His remarks were further evidence of the remarkable US reversal on Russia after years in which President Donald Trump’s predecessor led international efforts to isolate Moscow.

He also said that ending Russia’s war in Ukraine would require concessions from all sides.

When asked about sanctions against Russia, he said the measures were imposed as a result of Russia’s invasion and that it was not just the US that had imposed them.

He said: “The European Union is going to have to be at the table at some point because they have sanctions as well that have been imposed.”

His comments came as talks between Russian and US officials in Saudi Arabia ended.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, who attended the talks in Riyadh alongside Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, told Russia’s Channel One that no date has been set yet for a meeting between Mr Putin and Mr Trump.

He said the meeting was “unlikely” to take place next week.

“The delegations of the two countries need to work closely together. We are ready for this, but it is still difficult to talk about a specific date for the meeting of the two leaders,” Mr Ushakov said.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Mr Lavrov said that in his view, “the conversation was very useful”.

He mentioned the same three goals as Mr Rubio and said that Washington and Moscow agreed to appoint representatives to carry out “regular consultations” on Ukraine.

“We not only listened, but also heard each other,” Mr Lavrov said.

“And I have reason to believe that the American side has started to better understand our position, which we have once again outlined in detail, using specific examples, based on President Putin’s repeated speeches.”

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Kyiv

No Ukrainian officials were present at the meeting, which came as the beleaguered country is slowly but steadily losing ground against more numerous Russian troops in a grinding war that began nearly three years ago.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country will not accept any outcome from this week’s talks if Kyiv does not take part and postponed his own trip scheduled for Wednesday.

European allies have also expressed concerns they are being sidelined.

Beyond Ukraine, the meeting had been expected to focus on thawing relations between the two countries, whose ties have fallen to their lowest level in decades.

It was meant to pave the way for a meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Putin.

Mr Ushakov’s remarks suggested the two sides made little progress.

Russia and the US agreed to “take each other’s interests into account” and advance their relations.

He added that it was “hard to say” that the two countries’ positions “are getting closer, but there was talk about it”.

In the wake of Moscow’s 2022 invasion, the US, along with European nations, imposed a raft of sanctions on Russia and the allies have repeatedly expanded the measures to damage its economy.

The recent US diplomatic blitz on the war has sent Ukraine and key allies scrambling to ensure a seat at the table amid concerns that Washington and Moscow could press ahead with a deal that won’t be favourable to them.

Kyiv’s absence at Tuesday’s talks has rankled many Ukrainians, and France called an emergency meeting of European Union countries and the UK on Monday to discuss the war.

US state department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce has said that even though Ukraine was not at the table on Tuesday, any actual peace negotiations will include the country.

Kyiv’s participation in such talks was a bedrock of US policy under Mr Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, whose administration also led international efforts to isolate Russia over the war.

White House officials have also rejected the notion that Europe has been left out of the conversation, noting that administration officials have spoken to several leaders.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday said he spoke by phone to Mr Trump and Mr Zelenskyy after the meeting he called in Paris.

“We seek a strong and lasting peace in Ukraine,” Mr Macron posted on X.

“To achieve this, Russia must end its aggression, and this must be accompanied by strong and credible security guarantees for the Ukrainians,” he said and vowed to “work on this together with all Europeans, Americans, and Ukrainians”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday said that Mr Putin has repeatedly expressed readiness for peace talks, and noted that a durable settlement of the conflict in Ukraine would be impossible without “a comprehensive consideration of security issues” in Europe.

The meeting at the Diriyah Palace in the Saudi capital of Riyadh also highlights de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s efforts to be a major diplomatic player, burnishing a reputation severely tarnished by the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Saudi state media described the talks as happening at the prince’s direction.

Saudi Arabia has also helped in prisoner negotiations and hosted Mr Zelensky for an Arab League summit in 2023.

Mr Zelensky said he would travel to the kingdom later this week.

Mr Rubio was accompanied by US national security adviser Mike Waltz and special envoy Steve Witkoff, while Mr Lavrov sat next to the Kremlin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov.

The meeting marked the most extensive contact between the two countries since Moscow’s February 24, 2022, invasion.