Russia and the USA are cautiously sniffing each other out
Foreign Ministers Lavrov and Rubio draw a positive conclusion from their first meeting in Saudi Arabia. Ukraine was not the only topic of discussion there.
In principle, it went well: That seems to be the common conclusion of a first meeting between representatives of the USA and Russia on Tuesday in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh. The way has been paved for a normalization of relations between the two countries .
They listened to each other and understood each other, said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov after the nearly five-hour talks – incidentally, the same Lavrov who had declared the day before that the representatives of the European Union, who wanted to continue the war in Ukraine, had no place in peace negotiations.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also made a brief statement. The conditions for ending the war against Ukraine must be acceptable to all sides, including Ukraine itself and Europe. Russia is ready to enter into a serious process to achieve this, said Rubio.
Doomed to be an Observer
The fact that Ukrainian websites particularly mentioned Rubio's mention of Ukraine and Europe in this context is telling. Apparently, there seems to be some hope in Kyiv that in the upcoming negotiations they will not be condemned to the role of just an observer over whose head a deal is being sealed.
Russian foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov outlined the conditions needed for a summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. He added that the decision to start deeper talks with the United States on Ukraine will ultimately rest with Putin himself. "We are ready for this, but it is still difficult to talk about a specific date for the meeting of the two leaders," Ushakov said, according to the Associated Press news agency.
On Tuesday morning, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov spoke of the possibility of a meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. At the same time, he again claimed that the meeting lacked legitimacy - a narrative that Washington has also adopted and thus put pressure on Kyiv.
Peskov also said that it was Ukraine's sovereign right to join the European Union. Moscow's position on NATO in this regard was well known. The mandate of Zelensky, who has been in office since 2019, expired last year. The Ukrainian constitution prohibits elections when martial law prevails in the country.
“Irritating points” were not specified
The US State Department said after the meeting in Riyadh that delegations from both countries had agreed to address "irritating points" in their relations with the aim of normalising diplomatic relations after years of tension.
US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a statement that Moscow and Washington had also agreed to appoint high-level teams for Ukraine talks "to work on a path to end the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible in a way that is durable, sustainable and acceptable to all sides."
She added that both countries will explore "future cooperation" but warned that a precise timetable is still unclear. She pointed out that "a phone call followed by a meeting is not enough to establish lasting peace." The talks in Riyadh are a first step in a longer process.
Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelensky, who traveled on to Turkey after a stop in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, canceled the last stop of his trip in Saudi Arabia. The meeting will be postponed until March 10. He also reiterated his demand on Monday: countries can discuss everything , but without Ukraine they cannot make any decisions about how to end the war.
