Russia and the United States have agreed to establish negotiation teams to discuss the Ukraine conflict following high-level talks in Saudi Arabia, according to official statements from both sides on Tuesday.
While the US confirmed the move through a statement, Russian negotiator and Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told state television on Tuesday that further discussions will happen at the appropriate time.
Teams will be appointed to negotiate an end to the Ukraine war, following a meeting in Riyadh on Tuesday between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the US State Department announced.
In the statement, Washington said the discussions laid “the groundwork for future cooperation” between the two sides and hailed the meeting as “an important step forward,” suggesting it could pave the way for future diplomatic efforts.
“We discussed and outlined our principled positions, and agreed that separate teams of negotiators will be in touch on this topic in due course,” Ushakov stated.
Formal, tense and laced with distrust, the highly anticipated Saudi-hosted talks between the United States and Russia on Tuesday carried all the hallmarks of a major diplomatic showdown, according to a report by news agency AFP.
The rare encounter marked a dramatic shift in US-Russia relations, following last week’s phone call between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Rubio and Lavrov agreed to “appoint respective high-level teams to begin working on a path to ending the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible in a way that is enduring, sustainable, and acceptable to all sides,” State Department spokesman Tammy Bruce said.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, hosted the meeting at Diriyah Palace, where the kingdom rolled out the red carpet.
The US-Russia meeting was the first of this level and format since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.