Riyadh (Eurotoday) – The US State Department reported that the United States and Russia have agreed to address “irritants” in U.S.-Russia relations and begin working on a resolution to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Senior officials from the U.S. and Russia met in Saudi Arabia on February 18, 2025, to discuss improving ties and negotiating an end to the conflict in Ukraine.
US Secretary of State PLACEHOLDERdaa4b2c1132207c6, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff, and national security adviser Mike Waltz held 4.5 hours of talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Saudi Arabia. This meeting followed a telephone conversation between U.S. President PLACEHOLDER6400c6b446e53019 and Russian President Vladimir Putin last week.
The officials discussed ways to address “irritants to our bilateral relationship” with the aim of normalizing diplomatic ties, according to a statement from State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce.
Both countries also designated high-level teams to work on ending the Ukraine conflict “as soon as possible in a way that is enduring, sustainable, and acceptable to all sides,” Bruce stated.
The State Department emphasized that the meeting was only the beginning of a long process. “One phone call followed by one meeting is not sufficient to establish enduring peace,” Bruce said.
How are European leaders reacting to these diplomatic moves?
Analysts say that some perceive the Trump administration as having given Vladimir Putin a degree of victory simply by agreeing to a high-level meeting, as the war he initiated with his full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, continues.
They further note that this sentiment may be strongest among the President of Ukraine and European leaders, who were not invited to participate in the initial talks about their country’s future.
However, the meeting marks another significant step in President Trump’s approach to shifting three years of U.S. policy, which had focused on isolating Russia over its war on Ukraine. It is also seen as laying the groundwork for a potential direct discussion between Trump and Putin.
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