US Pursues Broader Ties With Russia Amid Push for Peace in Ukraine

(L–R) U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, national security advisor Mike Waltz, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud, national security advisor Mosaad bin Mohammad al-Aiban, Russian president's foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov, and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attend a meeting together at Diriyah Palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Feb. 18, 2025. Evelyn Hockstein/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

The Trump administration took some early steps to warm the overall U.S.–Russia relationship on Feb. 18, as President Donald Trump pursues a peaceful settlement to the ongoing Russia–Ukraine war.

Following a meeting between the U.S. and Russian delegations in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the State Department announced several new efforts to repair diplomatic channels with Moscow. These efforts would include establishing a new consultation mechanism to resolve issues complicating the U.S.–Russia relationship and to rebuild their diplomatic missions on each other’s soil.

White House national security adviser Mike Waltz and special presidential envoy Steve Witkoff joined Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the meeting table in Riyadh on Feb. 18.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov led the Russian delegation. He was joined by Russian presidential adviser Yuri Ushakov and Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of the Russia Direct sovereign wealth fund.

Going into the meeting, Lavrov said the talks would cover “the entire range of U.S.–Russian relations,” not just the Ukraine conflict.

In remarks shared with Russia’s state-run TASS news agency, Ushakov said the Riyadh meeting yielded “very serious conversation on all issues.“ Ushakov also said both sides agreed at the meeting to ”take into account each other’s interests.”

Trump has signaled an interest in meeting directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but Ushakov said no date has been set, and it’s unlikely that a meeting will take place by next week.

“At some point, when things settle down, I’m going to meet with China, and I’m going to meet with Russia, in particular those two, and I’m going to say, ‘There’s no reason for us to be spending almost a trillion dollars on the military,’” Trump told reporters at the White House on Feb. 13.

The president said he would even open with a pitch for each of the three countries to cut their military budgets in half.

According to TASS, Dmitriev said both sides treated each other respectfully during the Riyadh talks, but he cautioned that no major diplomatic breakthrough had emerged.

“It is too early to talk about compromises. We can say that the sides started communicating with each other, started listening to each other, started the dialog,” he said.

Renewing Diplomatic Missions

Relations between Washington and Moscow had been strained for years, even before Russian troops marched on Ukraine nearly three years ago, and the United States responded by rapidly ramping up lethal support to the Ukrainian side. As these ties grew more strained over the years, both countries have reduced their diplomatic missions to the other side.

On the 2016 campaign trail, as he sought his first term in office, Trump said, “Wouldn’t it be great if we actually got along with Russia?”

Although he signaled an interest in rapprochement with Moscow, Trump began his first term in office amid high tensions with the Kremlin.

A Russian flag flies atop the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in Seattle on March 26, 2018. Lindsey Wasson/Reuters

In December 2016, following allegations of Russian interference in the U.S. elections that year, then-President Barack Obama ordered 35 Russian diplomats accused of working as intelligence operatives to leave the United States. He also revoked access to compounds in Maryland and New York that Russian diplomatic staff had used.

Moscow responded in July 2017 by ordering a U.S. diplomatic mission in Russia to reduce its staff to a level equal to the number of Russian diplomatic personnel still in the United States.

In March 2018, Trump ordered the closure of the Russian Consulate in Seattle and the expulsion of another 60 Russian diplomatic personnel from the United States following allegations that Russian agents used a military-grade nerve agent to attack a former Russian spy in the UK. Moscow responded by ordering the closure of the U.S. Consulate General in St. Petersburg and the expulsion of 60 U.S. diplomatic personnel.

The U.S. consulates at Vladivostok and Yekaterinburg suspended their normal operations, citing “critically low staffing of the United States Mission to Russia.”

Addressing reporters after the Feb. 18 meeting, Rubio said rebuilding these diplomatic teams would be key to repairing the relationship.

“For us to be able to continue to move down this road, we need to have diplomatic facilities that are operating and functioning normally,” he said.

Rubio said a peaceful resolution of the Ukraine conflict could open the door to greater geopolitical and economic cooperation between the United States and Russia.

“Obviously, we'd have to see that conflict come to a successful and enduring end in order for that to be possible,” he said.

Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud receives Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Saudi Foreign Ministry headquarters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Feb. 17, 2025. Evelyn Hockstein/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

Ukraine, Europe Remain Wary

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European leaders remain cautious about how the interactions between Washington and Moscow are progressing.

No Ukrainian delegation was present at the talks in Saudi Arabia.

Zelenskyy was due to arrive in Riyadh this week, but he postponed the visit until March 10. The Ukrainian leader said he did not want the appearance of “any coincidences” in his visit and the earlier U.S.–Russia talks.

During a press conference in Palm Beach, Florida, on Feb. 18, Trump was asked to respond to concerns about Ukraine not having a seat at the table at the Riyadh talks.

“Well, they’ve had a seat for three years, and a long time before that this could have been settled very easily,” he said.

Trump later asserted that, had he been in a position to handle the negotiations earlier on, he could’ve made a deal that avoided Ukraine losing much of the territory that Russian forces have captured and avoided much of the loss of life and widespread destruction that has taken place throughout the war.

The Trump administration may have to balance its pursuit of improved relations with Russia against a European community wary of renewed coercion and aggression from Moscow.

French President Emmanuel Macron called an emergency meeting of European leaders in Paris on Feb. 17 amid concerns that the United States would sideline Europe in the Russia–Ukraine peace process.

Zelenskyy has sought assurances that an eventual peace settlement with Russia will be backed with security guarantees from allies and partners.

“There is a shared vision that security guarantees must be reliable and strong,” Zelenskyy’s office said on Feb. 18. “Any other solution, such as a fragile cease-fire, would be just another deception by Russia and a precondition for a new Russian war against Ukraine or other European countries.”

French President Emmanuel Macron (R) welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Elysee Palace in Paris on May 14, 2023. Michel Euler/AP Photo

On Feb. 12, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signaled opposition to deploying U.S. troops to Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force. He said troops from European and non-European countries should provide these peacekeepers under a mission that is not covered by NATO’s mutual defense provisions.

Zelenskyy has called for the creation of a multinational European military force.

European leaders are still trying to reach a consensus on security guarantees for Ukraine. Germany and Poland, for example, have signaled willingness to continue flowing military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine but are hesitant to commit their troops to any peacekeeping mission inside the country.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK is willing to consider deploying peacekeeping troops in Ukraine but that the United States must provide a security guarantee.

“Europe must play its role, and I’m prepared to consider committing British forces on the ground alongside others if there is a lasting peace agreement,” Starmer said.

“But there must be a U.S. backstop because a U.S. security guarantee is the only way to effectively deter Russia from attacking Ukraine again.”

Guy Birchall, Jackson Richman, Reuters, and The Associated Press contributed to this article.