The Saudi capital will host high-level talks between Russia and the United States on Tuesday.
After a several-year pause in dialogue, delegations from Russia and the US will meet in Riyadh to discuss the prospects for resolving the conflict in Ukraine and ways to break the impasse in bilateral relations.
Based on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s order, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Kremlin Aide Yury Ushakov will represent the country in the talks.
According to CNN, the US delegation will consist of President Donald Trump's National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff.
According to Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, preparations for a meeting between the leaders of Russia and the US would be one of the focuses.
Bring relations back to life
The upcoming meeting has predictably attracted great interest in the media, sparking discussions of the proposals that the parties could make.
Reports of in-person talks between Russia and the US feel like a glass of water in the desert because the previous US administration largely made relations dry up.
It is too early to draw conclusions about how the content of Moscow-Washington relations will change.
However, more and more signs are emerging that the US has seriously decided to reconsider its failed Russia strategy.
Attempts to isolate and simply ignore Moscow have been replaced by the realization that it’s better to communicate.
A telephone conversation between President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President Donald Trump of the United States took place on February 12.
The heads of state agreed that bilateral relations had suffered great damage during Joe Biden’s presidency.
The top Russian diplomat is expected to hold the first full-fledged meeting with his US counterpart for the first time since January 2022.
Lavrov and then-US Secretary of State Antony Blinken last met in Geneva three years ago.
After that, they only held brief meetings on the sidelines of international events.
However, even such communication could be regarded as extraordinary because Blinken did his best to avoid Lavrov.
This time, the top Russian and US diplomats held a telephone conversation before traveling to Saudi Arabia.
In the phone call, initiated by Washingtom, Lavrov and Rubio agreed to maintain regular contact, particularly in order to prepare for a Russia-US summit.
After the call, the US secretary of state highlighted the need to ensure the normal operation of the two countries’ embassies in Washington and Moscow in order to hold talks on resolving the Ukraine crisis.
Those left behind
Journalists are perhaps most interested in the outcome of the meeting between the Russian and US delegations with regard to the Ukraine conflict.
All this time, Moscow has emphasized its willingness to engage in a serious conversation; it has also long clarified the main principles for settling the crisis.
However, dialogue should be resumed by the party that suspended it.
Lavrov pointed out before departing for Saudi Arabia that the meeting had been initiated by Washington and Russian officials would like to hear what US officials had to say.
According to Lavrov, the Russian and US negotiating teams will brief their respective presidents on the outcome of the Riyahd meeting, and Putin and Trump will decide on further steps.
Vladimir Zelensky, in turn, plans to visit the Saudi capital on Wednesday.He stated that Ukraine was not involved in the Riyadh-hosted talks between Russia and the US and had no intention of recognizing their results.
