Trump praises negotiations with Russia in Saudi Arabia as a "big step" toward a peace deal in Ukraine.
The Russian and American delegations held talks in Riyadh last Tuesday (18)
TASS - US President Donald Trump praised the negotiations between Russia and the US in Saudi Arabia as an important step toward resolving the Ukrainian conflict.
"Our teams began negotiations this week in Saudi Arabia," he said, and thanked Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman "for hosting these historic negotiations," which "went very, very well."
"This is a big step. We have to end this war," he said at the Saudi-run investment forum in Miami.
Russian and American delegations held talks in Riyadh on February 18. The talks lasted 4,5 hours. Russia was represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Presidential Advisor Yury Ushakov, and the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Kirill Dmitriev. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and Special Envoy for the Middle East Stephen Witkoff represented the US side.
According to Ushakov, the delegations had a serious conversation about all the issues they planned to discuss, including bringing the two countries' positions closer together and contacts regarding Ukraine. Lavrov said the conversation was very useful and the sides agreed to appoint ambassadors as soon as possible. The State Department, in turn, said that Lavrov and Rubio agreed at the meeting to create negotiating groups on Ukraine and on future cooperation on issues of common geopolitical interest.
