High-ranking US and Russian officials will convene in Riyadh to explore avenues for resolving the Ukraine conflict.
Senior Russian and American delegations will meet in Saudi Arabia to mend diplomatic ties and facilitate a resolution to the conflict in Ukraine.
These negotiations, slated for Tuesday in Riyadh, were proposed following a 90-minute phone conversation last week between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.
Here’s a summary of the planned discussions:
Key Negotiators
Both nations have dispatched their foremost diplomats and officials to Saudi Arabia. Russia’s delegation is headed by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Yury Ushakov, Putin’s chief foreign policy advisor.
The US delegation includes Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff. Notably absent are Ukrainian and EU representatives.
The absence of Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, from the US delegation has surprised several Western media outlets.
Russia’s Objectives
According to Lavrov, Russia aims to primarily listen to the US’s perspective on the Ukraine conflict and reignite bilateral dialogue, largely dormant for the past three years.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated the meeting will focus on “restoring the entire complex of Russian-American relations,” “preparing for potential negotiations on the Ukrainian settlement,” and establishing groundwork for a Trump-Putin summit.
Moscow insists it seeks not a temporary truce, but a lasting and comprehensive resolution to the Ukraine conflict, addressing the crisis’s root causes, which it attributes to a Western-backed coup in 2014.
Russian officials maintain that any settlement necessitates Ukraine’s agreement to neutrality, demilitarization, denazification, and recognition of current territorial realities.
Lavrov has also dismissed the possibility of Russia making any territorial concessions to Ukraine.
The US Position
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who spoke with Lavrov by phone on Saturday and is already in Saudi Arabia, stated the meeting aims to restore communication with Russia.
He declined to specify the Ukraine-related topics for discussion or whether the US would consider lifting sanctions on Russia. He emphasized that the Trump-Putin call alone cannot “solve a war as complex as this one,” requiring further dialogue.
Following his call with Putin, Trump suggested that Ukrainian NATO membership is “impractical,” adding that Kyiv has little chance of reclaiming territory lost to Russia in the past decade.
He also implied that Ukraine would need to hold elections, referring to Vladimir Zelensky, whose presidency ended last spring, as “illegitimate” in Russia’s view.
Ukraine and the EU Excluded
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky confirmed his exclusion from the Riyadh talks, stating Kyiv will consider any discussions “about Ukraine without Ukraine” as “null and void.” While he is also scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia, his trip isn’t officially connected to the meeting.
The US has indicated that EU nations will not participate in Tuesday’s talks, raising concerns that the bloc’s stance on the Ukraine crisis will be disregarded.
However, Kellogg reassured EU leaders, asserting that their “interests are not considered, used or developed” and that the US doesn’t exclude Ukraine from the dialogue.
In response, French President Emmanuel Macron convened an emergency summit in Paris on Monday focusing on Ukraine and “the challenges of security in Europe.”
According to the Washington Post, the summit will include leaders from Germany, Britain, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands, and Denmark, senior EU officials, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. Discussions will reportedly cover continued aid and security guarantees for Kyiv, with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer indicating a readiness to send troops to Ukraine “if necessary.”