Top officials from the United States and Russia are meeting in Saudi Arabia to discuss reopening normal relations and beginning negotiations for a cease-fire in Ukraine.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Riyadh following a phone call last week between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
Rubio arrived in the Saudi capital earlier on Feb. 17 and will be joined in the talks by national security adviser Mike Waltz and Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff.
Lavrov will be joined by Yuri Ushakov, a foreign policy adviser to Putin.
Ushakov told Russian state media on Feb. 17 that Moscow and Washington had yet to agree on how precisely to begin Ukraine peace talks, as the United States had not appointed a chief negotiator to speak to Russia on Trump’s behalf.
Lavrov’s meeting with Rubio, he said, was expected to be “business-like” and focus on “restoring the entire range of U.S.–Russian relations.”
To that end, Ushakov said, the chief of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund might also be on hand to handle emerging issues related to economic matters.
The officials are also expected to begin arranging a face-to-face meeting for Trump and Putin, as the new administration in Washington seeks to normalize ties with Moscow after years of heavy sanctions and a diplomatic blackout between the two powers over Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago.
Saudi Arabia has played a critical role in facilitating early contacts between the Trump administration and the Kremlin, helping the two powers to secure a prisoner swap last week.
Though the issue of Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine is likely to be a centerpiece of the discussions, Ushakov said that the talks were to be a “purely bilateral” affair, and would not include Ukrainian leadership.
The onslaught of renewed diplomatic activity between Washington and Moscow has set European leaders on edge, with many U.S. allies now openly wondering if the Trump administration intends to cut European powers out of negotiating a peace to end the largest war in Europe since World War II.
Speaking at an event hosted by a Ukrainian tycoon earlier in the month, Kellogg said he thought the idea of Europe participating in Ukraine–Russia cease-fire talks was “not going to happen.”
“You can have the Ukrainians, the Russians, and clearly the Americans at the table talking,” Kellogg said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also said the powers that would actually be left in charge of carrying out a cease-fire arrangement should be involved in the negotiations.
“Ukraine will never accept deals made behind our backs without our involvement, and the same rule should apply to all of Europe,” he said during a Feb. 15 speech at the Munich Security Conference.
“A few days ago, President Trump told me about his conversation with Putin. Not once did he mention that America needs Europe at the table. That says a lot.”
The Feb. 18 meeting in Riyadh and Russia’s conduct in the weeks to follow, Rubio said, would determine if the Trump administration believed Moscow was truly committed to a peace negotiation.
Likewise, Kellogg revised his stance on Feb. 17, saying that no one would impose a peace deal on Kyiv without its consent and Washington would clarify its position on European peacekeeping missions to Ukraine at a later date.
Washington has since sent a questionnaire to European capitals to ask what they could contribute to security guarantees for Kyiv.
Leadership in Germany, Sweden, and the UK have said that they are open to sending peacekeeping forces to Ukraine, given a clear and acceptable mandate.
“I do not say that lightly. ... But any role in helping to guarantee Ukraine’s security is helping to guarantee the security of our continent and the security of this country.”
Not all European powers are prepared to commit to boots on the ground, however, even among Ukraine’s largest financial backers.
With that being said, Tusk added, Poland would provide logistical and political support to nations who do send troops to Ukraine.
