Russian and the United States for talks about ending the war. Ukraine, Europe left the exit

Russian and American officials ended its first official meeting in the years on Tuesday, more than four hours after the basis for talks to end the war in Ukraine.

The meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov started early on Tuesday morning in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and was distinguished by the first official meeting to sit between senior American and Russian diplomats since January 2022, when the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was then Anthony Blink and met Lavrov in Geneva Just weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine.

American envoy Steve Whitkov and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz participated in the talks, while Lavrov, accompanied by Kremlin Assistant Yuri Oshkov, according to Russian government media.

Oshkov told Russian news agencies Tass and Ria Novosti that separate teams of Russian and US negotiators will begin to call Ukraine in a timely manner, according to the comments translated by NBC News.

“One phone call was followed by one meeting is not enough to prove permanent peace. We must take action, and today we took an important step forward,” US State Department spokesman Tami Bruce said in a statement on Tuesday.

The prominent meeting came after US President Donald Trump announced last week that he had contacted Russian President Vladimir Putin and that the leaders agreed to start negotiations to end a three -year war in Ukraine.

Both sides had reduced the possible result of this first meeting; Foreign Ministry spokesman Tami Bruce told reporters on Monday that his leadership meeting was designed “to determine whether the Russians may be serious, and if they are on the same page.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that the meeting was to discuss the restoration of bilateral relations and “preparations for the possible peace talks in Ukraine.”

On Tuesday, the spokesman said that Putin was ready to speak to Ukraine President Volodimir Zellinsky “if necessary”, but he said that “the legal basis for agreements needs to be discussed given the fact that Zelinski’s legitimacy can be interrogated.”

Russia has reduced the legitimacy of Zelinski because of the martial law that prevents new elections in the country, but Kiev says it is unreasonable to hold a ballot during the war.

Kirill Dimitriev, head of the Russian sovereign wealth fund, was part of the Russian delegation in Riyadh with its presence indicating that Moscow was keen to emphasize the economic benefits of restoring relations.

Speaking to the Russian media early on Tuesday, Dmitriev estimated that “American companies lost about 300 billion dollars from leaving Russia” and said that there are “huge economic losses on many countries of what is happening now, and we believe that the road is forward is Through solutions, he said according to a Interfax News Agency report.

Ukraine officials were not present in talks in Riyadh, and European allies have been frozen from discussions at the present time.

Kiev’s leadership said it would not agree to any peace deal that contradicts its interests, while European leaders at the Munich conference warned the security of last week that any agreement does not succeed.

European leaders held The emergency meeting in Paris on Monday, where they agreed to the need to increase defense spending sharply, but they were unable to agree on whether the peacekeeping forces will be sent to Ukraine as part of the post -war plan.

“We seek a strong and permanent peace in Ukraine. To achieve this, Russia must end its aggression, and this must be accompanied by strong security guarantees and credible for the Ukrainians. Otherwise, there is a risk that this ceasefire will end like Minsk agreements. Macron said on the social media platform X.