US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are meeting in Saudi Arabia ahead of initial talks aimed at addressing the Ukraine war. These discussions will exclude Ukraine and its European backers.
Along with Rubio, US officials such as National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff are attending the talks in Riyadh. On the Russian side, key figures include presidential aide Yury Ushakov and Kirill Dmitriev, head of the sovereign wealth fund, who played a role in a recent US prisoner release agreement.
Lavrov has stated that the talks are aimed at ending the “abnormal period” in relations between the two major powers, and they could lay the groundwork for a possible meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
European leaders, concerned about being left out of the crucial discussions, held an urgent meeting on Ukraine in Paris on Monday. This came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Europe to unite in creating a shared military and foreign policy, warning that the era of guaranteed US support for Europe might be ending.
