Top Russian and US diplomats are holding talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to find a way to restore diplomatic relations, set the stage for a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, and pave the way for resolving the Ukraine conflict.
The Russian delegation is led by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and includes Yury Ushakov, Putin’s top foreign policy aide, and Kirill Dmitriev, the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF). The American side is represented by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, and Steve Witkoff, the special envoy for the Middle East.
Neither Ukraine nor the EU is attending the meeting, with Kiev signaling that it won’t recognize the results of the talks unless it is included.
18 February 2025
10:06 GMTThe Russian and US delegations will continue their talks in Riyadh after a short break, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said. She added that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov plans to speak to reporters after the end of the negotiations.
- 09:49 GMT
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has told Keith Kellogg, the US special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, that the bloc “is carrying its full share of military assistance to Ukraine and stands ready to do even more,” according to the readout of the conversation. She also stressed that any resolution of the conflict “must respect Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, backed by strong security guarantees.”
- 09:42 GMT
Ukraine has every right to seek EU membership as a sovereign country, Peskov has said. “We are talking about economic integration processes. Here, no one can dictate anything to any country... We have a completely different position on issues related to security, defense, or military alliances. Here, we have a different and well-known approach.”
- 09:37 GMT
Russia has always been ready to negotiate peace in the Ukraine conflict, Peskov said, arguing that the same was not true about Kiev, the EU, and the Biden administration. “The main thing for us is to achieve our goals. And, of course, we prefer peaceful means to achieve them.”
- 09:27 GMT
It is still unclear when Putin and Trump could have a face-to-face meeting, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has told reporters. “Perhaps some estimates will appear based on the results of today’s talks. But we will find out about this later, at the end of this dialogue.”
- 09:27 GMT
The EU Commission has released a short clip of its president, Ursula von der Leyen, welcoming Keith Kellogg, the US special envoy for Ukraine and Russia. Earlier, several media outlets drew attention to the fact that the retired general is not present at the US-Russia talks in Riyadh.
- 08:47 GMT
Major US oil companies could “at some point” return to doing business in Russia, RDIF head Kirill Dmitriev has told the New York Times. “We believe at some point they will be coming back, because why would they forego these opportunities that Russia gave them to have access to Russian natural resources?”
- 08:10 GMT
RDIF head Dmitriev believes that Russia and the US could cooperate on a number of Arctic projects. “The Biden administration has spread a lot of disinformation... Our dialogue [with the Trump administration] allows us to show the truth that the Russian economy is developing at a good pace. We also need to work on joint projects, for example, in the Arctic and other areas,” he said.
- 07:55 GMT
Russia and the US could make progress in talks in two or three months, Dmitriev has said, without elaborating further. He went on to praise the Trump administration, noting that unlike Biden’s team, it is willing to listen to Moscow.
- 07:55 GMT
The policies of former US President Joe Biden undermined global confidence in the dollar, RDIF head Kirill Dmitriev said, adding that Western sanctions have helped shape Russia into a more independent nation. According to Dmitriev, the resumption of dialogue with the US proves that the West’s policy of deterring Moscow has failed.
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