Riad (dpa-AFX)-US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet for the first time with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lawrov in Saudi Arabia for talks about the war in Ukraine. It is about preparing possible negotiations to solve the Ukraine conflict and a meeting of the presidents of both countries, said the Kremlin. The topic of conversation is a whole complex of questions about the restoration of Russian-American relationships.
According to the Kremlin in Moscow, Juri Uschakow, the foreign policy consultant of Kremlin chief, also takes part in the talks with Rubio in addition to Lawrow Vladimir Putin. Rubio had said in advance that he wanted to meet representatives of Russia with representatives of Russia with the US specialist Steve Witkoff and the national security consultant Mike Waltz in Saudi Arabia.
Selenskyj does not recognize talks about Ukraine
During the talks in Saudi Arabia, neither representatives of Ukraine nor the Europeans will sit at the table. The Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj is also expected in Riyadh for talks with the Saudi leadership. However, he had said that he did not recognize the talks between Rubio and Lawrow to Ukraine. A negotiation about a solution to the conflict could only be available with Ukraine, he emphasized.
The war in Ukraine has led to a deep break between the United States and Russia. Last week, US President Donald Trump surprisingly called the Russian head of state and spoke about a possible termination of the Russian war of aggression. Rubio and Lawrow also made calls afterwards./jot/dp/jha