Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Saudi Arabian officials on Monday ahead of planned talks between U.S. diplomats and their Russian counterparts to negotiate an end to the Ukrainian war.
U.S. National Security Advisor Michael Waltz attended the meeting with Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Salman at a meeting at his palace in the capital Riyadh. Rubio also met with Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal Bin Farhan al-Saud earlier on Monday after he first traveled to Riyadh as an Israeli official in Israel. Secretary of State.
Talks are planned between the United States and Russia in Saudi Arabia. Ukrainian officials are expected to be absent from the negotiations.
State Department spokesman Tammy Bruce said Rubio, Waltz and Vidoc will meet with the Russian delegation.
National Security Advisor said Putin, Zelenskyy agreed that “only President Trump can bring them to the table”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh on February 17, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
Russian State Television reported that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Putin’s diplomatic adviser Yuri Ushakov set out for the Saudi capital on Monday.
Speaking to a reporter in Moscow on Monday, Lavrov said he was looking forward to an “absolutely abnormal alienation” between the United States and Russia between the United States and Russia, according to the Washington Post.
According to reports, Lavrov said: “We want to hear about our partner.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the talks would focus mainly on “the entire scope of restoring U.S.-Russian relations and preparing possible negotiations on Ukrainian settlements and organizing the two presidents’ Meeting”.
Bruce said the meeting was intended to determine how serious the Russians were about peace and whether detailed negotiations could be initiated.
Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Faisal Bin Farhan al-Saud received Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Saudi Foreign Ministry Headquarters in Riyadh on February 17, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
According to the Associated Press, she told reporters to travel with Rubio in Riyadh.
Even if Ukraine won’t attend Tuesday’s talks, actual peace talks will only take place with Ukraine’s participation, Bruce said.
Tuesday’s talks are expected to lay the foundation for a summit between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump said he spoke with Putin on the phone last week and they “agree to let our respective teams start negotiations immediately.” The years after the call for US policy rose, ending the isolation of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Trump then called Zelenskyy to inform him of their conversation.
Trump told reporters on Sunday that Zelenskyy “will be involved in it” without elaborating.
White House officials say Zelenskyy has not signed a “short-sighted” US economic agreement
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron convened an emergency meeting between major European powers in Paris on Monday to discuss the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.
Talking about Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Future” he and Waltz will “meet in the president’s direction” and hope to “make some good progress in Russia-Ukraine”.
Witkov did not directly answer questions about whether Ukraine must abandon “important parts” on its territory, which is part of a solution to any negotiation. Defense Minister Pete Hegseth said last week that NATO’s Ukrainian membership was unrealistic and suggested that Kiev should give up hope of winning all its territory from Russia.
The Ukrainian president said on Monday that his country was not invited to the upcoming talks and that if Kiev did not attend, the results would not be accepted. Zelenskyy said in a conference call with reporters from United Arab Emirates that the U.S.-Russia negotiations would “have no results” given that there were no Ukrainian officials. Zelenskyy said he will travel to Türkiye on Monday and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, but his trip has nothing to do with talks in the United States and Russia.
Rubio met with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh on February 17, 2025. Witkoff was not on another sofa in the room as shown. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
In a appearance on Fox News Sunday, Walz rejected the view that European allies did not consult to end the end of the Russian-Ukrainian war and pointed out Rubio, Heges, Heges, Heges , Vice President Judd Vance and Finance Minister Scott Bessent spent last week meeting with allies in Europe. Especially Bessent went to Kyiv, while Vance met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky off the field of the Munich Security Conference.
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Walz said one of the main tenants in negotiations for peace agreements would ensure “a permanent end of war”, describing how conflict turned into a world war-style meat grinder for humanity”. He said the long-term Military security assurances must be dominated by Europe, criticizing one-third of NATO countries for not contributing their consent a decade ago.
As for the time being during the Byz administration, the American people “should be compensated and should be rewarded for the billions of dollars they invested in this war.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
