Russia said foreign minister Sergei Lavrov will hold talks with top US officials, including secretary of state Marco Rubio, on Tuesday that will focus on ending the war in Ukraine and restoring Russia-US ties.
Mr Rubio arrived in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Monday on a previously planned trip. US national security adviser Mike Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who were set to arrive later on Monday, will be joining him at the talks with the Russians.
The talks will be among the first high-level, in-person discussions in years between Russian and US officials and are meant to precede a meeting between US president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Mr Lavrov and Yuri Ushakov, a foreign policy adviser to Mr Putin, would fly to Riyadh on Monday.
“They are expected to hold a meeting with their American counterparts on Tuesday, which will focus primarily on restoring the entire complex of Russian-American relations,” Mr Peskov said.
“It will also be devoted to the preparation of possible negotiations on the Ukrainian settlement and the organisation of a meeting between the two presidents.”
Mr Peskov declined to comment on a report that Kirill Dmitriev, Russia’s sovereign wealth fund chief, would also meet the US delegation.
Mr Peskov also declined to comment when asked if Mr Putin and Mr Trump would meet face to face in Saudi Arabia later this month.
US state department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce confirmed that Mr Rubio, Mr Waltz and Mr Witkoff would meet with the Russian delegation in Riyadh on Tuesday.
The talks come after Mr Trump last week spoke to Mr Putin by phone and ordered top officials to begin negotiations on the war, which he repeatedly vowed to end during his presidential campaign.
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Riyadh, which is also involved in talks with Washington over the future of the Gaza Strip, has played a role in early contacts between the Trump administration, which took office on January 20th, and Moscow, helping to secure a prisoner swap last week.
Mr Rubio, who spoke by phone with Mr Lavrov on Saturday, said on Sunday that the coming weeks and days would determine whether Mr Putin is serious about making peace.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy is also in the region. Mr Zelenskiy, who arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday, said he also intended to visit Saudi Arabia and Turkey, but no dates were set.
Mr Zelenskiy dismissed planned talks between the US and Russia on ending the war in Ukraine, reiterating that Kyiv should be involved in any discussions about its own future.
“Ukraine regards any negotiations on Ukraine without Ukraine as ones that have no result, and we cannot recognise ... any agreements about us without us,” he told reporters in a virtual briefing from the United Arab Emirates.
On the agenda for Mr Rubio’s meeting with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salmanis likely to be Mr Trump’s proposal for the Palestinian residents of Gaza to be resettled in other Arab nations and for the US to lead reconstruction of their home.
That proposal has infuriated the Arab world and heightened fears among Palestinians in Gaza of being driven out of the coastal strip.
Gaza has been devastated by the war that broke out when Iran-backed militants Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7th, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking 250 hostage, according to Israeli tallies. The offensive Israel launched in response killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, before an agreement reached last month brought a fragile ceasefire.
Saudi Arabia, alongside other Arab nations, has rejected any plan that involves resettling Palestinians, and Riyadh is spearheading Arab efforts to develop a counterproposal, which could involve a Gulf-led reconstruction fund and a deal to sideline Hamas.
Crown prince Mohammed has also insisted that Saudi Arabia would not normalise ties with Israel – a long-standing goal of Washington – without an agreement on a pathway to a Palestinian state.
Mr Rubio visited Israel on Sunday and met with prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, pledging support for Israel in its regional rivalry with Iran. − Reuters
