US-Russia Agree on Efforts to Stop Ukraine War, Trump-Putin to Meet Soon

RIYADH, WEDNESDAY — The United States and Russia, in a meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday (18/2/2025), agreed—without involving Ukraine—to initiate joint efforts to stop the Ukraine war. Additionally, both countries also agreed on the restoration of diplomatic and economic relations. This marks one of the stark and drastic turning points from the previous position of the US under the foreign policy of the Donald Trump administration.

The agreement was outlined in a meeting between United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, each accompanied by other senior officials, at the Diriyah Palace, Albasateen complex, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday (18/2/2025). The meeting lasted approximately 4.5 hours without involving Ukraine or Europe, the site of the largest land war on the continent since World War II.

During the meeting, Russia, through its Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, in Moscow, issued a new demand in the Ukraine peace negotiations, namely an official statement from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to revoke the promise it made to Ukraine in 2008 to join the military alliance.

A short while after the meeting in Riyadh concluded, US President Donald Trump told reporters in Palm Beach, Florida, US, that he might hold a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin this February. "Russia wants to do something," he said. "I think I have the power to stop this war."

In an interview with the Associated Press after the meeting, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio revealed that both parties generally agreed to achieve three targets: restoring their respective embassies in Washington and Moscow, forming a high-level team to support peace negotiations in Ukraine, and exploring closer relations and economic cooperation.

He stressed that the meeting in Riyadh was just a beginning. Further meetings and work were still needed.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made a similar statement. "This discussion is very beneficial," he told reporters. "We are not just listening, but also hearing each other."

In the meeting, Rubio was accompanied by National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and the US Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff. Meanwhile, Lavrov was accompanied by Kremlin Foreign Affairs Advisor Yury Ushakov. The CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, Kirill Dmitriev, was also present.

They sat face to face, separated by a rectangular table. At the head of the table at the beginning of the meeting were Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and Saudi National Security Adviser Mosaad bin Mohammad al-Aiban. Behind them were three flags (the US, Saudi Arabia, and Russia).

Prince Faisal and Musaed are expected to leave the meeting room early given that it was a bilateral US-Russian meeting. Russian news agency TASS reported that there were no introductory statements or handshakes when reporters were allowed into the room before the talks began.

The Rubio-Lavrov meeting in Riyadh was the first between US-Russian officials, coming less than a month after Donald Trump was inaugurated as US president and six days after he spoke by phone with President Putin.

Ukraine has said it will not accept any peace deal made by the US and Russia without Kyiv's consent. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also stressed: "No decisions should be made in Ukraine's name."

A number of European politicians have accused the Trump administration of giving Moscow free concessions by rejecting Ukraine's NATO membership and on the issue of territorial control.

Before the Riyadh meeting, some European politicians accused the Trump administration of giving Moscow free concessions by rejecting Ukraine's NATO membership and on territorial control issues. In Washington's eyes, it is now an illusion for Ukraine to be able to reclaim the 20 percent of its territory that was lost and is now under Russian control.

US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz told reporters in Riyadh that the Ukraine war must end permanently. In this case, negotiations on territorial issues will be held.

"The practical form of this is that there will be some discussions on territorial issues and discussions on security guarantees," Waltz said.

Russian officials have not mentioned what concessions they offered at the Riyadh meeting. Similarly, there has been no statement from U.S. officials claiming they got anything out of the meeting. This has led some to doubt whether further meetings will lead to serious peace talks.

“So far, I see no evidence that Putin is willing to give an inch to negotiate a peace deal,” Michael McFaul, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia under President Barack Obama, wrote in X.

“What I see instead is ideas that the US is putting forward about what concessions Ukraine, NATO and the US should make,” McFaul continued.

No Ukrainian officials were invited to the Riyadh meeting. Like European officials and leaders, Kyiv watched from afar. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last week that no peace deal was made in his country's name.

Before the Riyadh meeting, US State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said that while Ukraine was not invited to Tuesday's meeting, any actual peace talks would involve it. The White House also dismissed suggestions that the US was not engaging Europe, saying that US officials had spoken about the Ukraine issue with European officials.

Responding to concerns raised by Ukraine and Europe, Rubio said no one was being left out of the Ukraine peace talks, adding that any solution must be acceptable to all parties.

Bruce said that after the meeting in Riyadh, Rubio called his fellow foreign ministers from France, Germany, Italy and Britain, as well as the European Union's (EU) foreign policy chief.

Separately, Zelenskyy said he was postponing a visit to Saudi Arabia, which had been scheduled for Wednesday. The trip was planned to be postponed until next month. Several sources said the decision was made because Zelenskyy did not want his visit to Saudi Arabia to be seen as giving legitimacy to the US-Russia meeting.

Kyiv insists that talks to end the war in Ukraine cannot be held without their involvement. Meanwhile in Europe, starting with Britain and Sweden, there is an initiative to send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine.

Responding to this, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Riyadh that Moscow cannot accept the presence of NATO troops in Ukraine, under any flag. "Obviously, it is unacceptable," he said.

Lavrov's statement is a signal that Russia is expected to continue to press for additional concessions in the current peace negotiations. During the meeting in Riyadh, Moscow made a new demand in the Ukraine-Russia peace talks, namely an official statement from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) canceling a promise made to Ukraine in 2008 to join the military alliance.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters in Moscow hours after the Riyadh meeting began that it was not enough for NATO to not accept Ukraine as a member.

Zakharova stressed that NATO must do more by reversing the promise made at the 2008 Bucharest, Romania summit that Kyiv could one day join NATO. "If this is not done, this problem will continue to poison the atmosphere in Europe," she said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also told reporters that President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly expressed his readiness to negotiate peace. But he said that Putin also noted that “a comprehensive agreement, a long-term agreement, a viable agreement” on the conflict in Ukraine is impossible without “comprehensive attention to security issues” in Europe.

Before the meeting, Dmitriev made a statement to reporters. "We have a very important track in the economic field," he told Russian state television.

"We have a series of proposals that our (US) colleagues are considering. I think, probably, there will be progress in the near future, two or three months," Dmitriev said.

"We cannot disclose the details... And, of course, there are political issues. I do not deal with political issues, but I deal with investment and economic issues," he was quoted as saying by TASS.

Dmitriev stressed the importance of the meeting in Riyadh. "Good US-Russian relations are very important for the whole world. Only through cooperation can Russia and the US address many world problems, resolve global conflicts and offer solutions," he told the Associated Press.

Lavrov said there was a “strong desire” to remove obstacles to economic ties between the two countries. After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the US and Western countries imposed a wave of sanctions on Moscow.

According to Rubio, European countries have also imposed sanctions on Russia. Therefore, they will also be involved in discussions to lift economic sanctions on Russia. If the Ukrainian war ends, Rubio continued, it will open the door to opportunities for US-Russian cooperation, including "quite unique and historic economic partnerships."

“Russia has won Round One,” said Jake Auchincloss, a Massachusetts Democrat and U.S. Representative who chairs the bipartisan House caucus on Ukraine. “The Kremlin has secured bilateral diplomatic normalization that isolates Ukraine and NATO, and they have given up nothing to get it.” (AP/AFP/REUTERS)