The meeting in Riyadh between delegations led by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov marked the highest-level face-to-face encounter between the United States and Russia in years.
Secretary Rubio said the two sides agreed to four principles: the first, to restore normal functionality to their diplomatic missions.
“The second point is that we're going to appoint a high-level team from our end to help negotiate and work through the end of the conflict in Ukraine in a way that's enduring and acceptable to all the parties engaged. The third point is to begin to work at a high level as well, to begin to discuss and think about and examine both the geopolitical and economic cooperation that could result from an end to the conflict in Ukraine. ... And the last thing we agreed to is that while our teams are going to be working on all of this, the five of us that were here today are going to remain engaged in this process to make sure that it's moving along in a productive way.”
National Security Advisor Michael Waltz emphasized that the end to the war in Ukraine needs to be permanent, not temporary:
“[T]here is going to be some discussion of territory and there's going to be discussion of security guarantees. Those are just fundamental basics that will undergird and underlie any type of discussion. But I think the most important part is the President [Trump] has stated his desire, his determination to end this war, to end the killing that is going on, the death and destruction that is happening as this war goes on and on, month after month after month.”
Should the war in Ukraine end in a way acceptable to all parties, the United States and Russia will begin to engage in identifying areas of common interest and opportunities, said Secretary of State Rubio:
“Issues that hopefully will be good for the world and will also improve our relations in the long term. ... The key that unlocks the door for those opportunities, however, is the end to this conflict.”
“The work remains,” said Secretary Rubio. “Today is the first step of a long and difficult journey. But an important one.”
