Russia, US to name negotiators on ending Ukraine war

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia: Russia and the United States agreed on Tuesday to establish teams to negotiate a path to ending the war in Ukraine after talks that drew a strong rebuke from Kyiv over its exclusion.

Washington noted European nations would have to have a seat at the negotiating table “at some point”, following the first high-level official Washington-Moscow talks since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Some European leaders, alarmed by President Donald Trump´s overhaul of US policy on Russia, fear Washington will make serious concessions to Moscow and re-write the continent´s security arrangement in a Cold War-style deal.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky slammed his nation´s exclusion from the Riyadh gathering, which lasted for more than four hours.

He said that any talks aimed at ending the war should be “fair” and involve European countries, including Turkiye, which offered to host negotiations.

“This will only be feeding Putin´s appetite,” a Ukrainian senior official requesting anonymity told AFP, referring to the launch of talks without Ukraine.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed to “appoint respective high-level teams to begin working on a path to ending the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible”, the State Department said.

Washington added the sides had also agreed to “establish a consultation mechanism” to address “irritants” to Russia and America´s relationship, noting the sides would lay the groundwork for future cooperation.

Yuri Ushakov, President Vladimir Putin´s foreign policy aide, confirmed the negotiating teams´ appointment but said it was “difficult” to discuss a date for a potential Trump-Putin meeting.

The meeting marks a major diplomatic coup for Moscow, which had been isolated for three years under the previous US administration of president Joe Biden.

Moscow´s economic negotiator, Kirill Dmitriev, said Western attempts to isolate Russia had “obviously failed”, revelling in the talks.

“We did not just listen but heard each other, and I have reason to believe the American side has better understood our position,” Lavrov told reporters. The veteran diplomat noted Russia opposed any deployment of Nato-nation troops to Ukraine as part of an eventual ceasefire.

European allies publicly diverged this week over the question of whether they would be open to sending truce peacekeepers to Ukraine. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was prepared to consider committing British soldiers, while German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that any debate on the matter was “completely premature”. “There are other parties that have sanctions (on Russia), the European Union is going to have to be at the table at some point because they have sanctions as well,” said Rubio.