Putin is ‘ready’ to negotiate with Zelensky ‘if necessary,’ says Kremlin

These statements take place in the context of a meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian chancellor Serguei Lavrov in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia after three years of diplomatic ice between Washington and Moscow. And also from a meeting on Monday (17), in Paris, on the security guarantees required by Kiev allies, excluded from the negotiations announced by Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.

According to the White House, the meeting of Rubio and Lavrov at the DROYAH Palace in the Saudi capital seeks to restore relations between Washington and Moscow, which expects economic progress within a maximum of three months after resuming conversations with Americans.

These are the first discussions at this level and in this format since the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. However, the United States does not see the meeting as the beginning of a “negotiation” over Ukraine, but as a continuation of Telephone conversation between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, who should soon meet in Saudi Arabia after excluding Kiev and the Europeans of negotiations.

Marco Rubio is accompanied by White House National Security Counselor Mike Waltz and the Special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. On the Russian side, a Kremlin foreign policy advisor, Yuri Ushakov, participates in the meeting alongside Serguei Lavrov.

Moscow expects progress in the economy

The target of heavy western sanctions for its Ukraine attack, Russia said on Tuesday it expects a quick “progress” in the economy of negotiations with the United States. “We have a number of proposals that our colleagues are considering. I think it will be possible to achieve progress not in the distant future, but in the next two or three months,” said Kirill Dmitiev, head of the Russian Investment Fund and one of the Russian representatives in Russian American negotiations.