As the talks between the US and Russia diplomats are underway in Saudi Arabia, Kremlin says Putin is ready to hold talks with Zelensky.
Russia- Ukraine talks: Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to hold talks with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Kremlin confirmed on Tuesday. The announcement comes as US and Russian diplomats hold talks in Saudi Arabia. Earlier, senior officials from Russia and the US met at the Diriyah Palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as they began talks on improving ties and negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine. The US delegation was led by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, while the Russian side was led by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
US, Russia talks may pave the way for Trump, Putin meeting
The meeting marks another pivotal step by the Trump administration to reverse US policy on isolating Russia and is meant to pave the way for a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The talks mark a significant expansion of US-Russian contacts nearly three years into a war that has seen ties fall to the lowest level in decades.
Lavrov and then-US Secretary of State Antony Blinken talked briefly on the sidelines of a G-20 meeting in India nearly two years ago, and in the fall of 2022, US and Russian spymasters met in Turkiye amid Washington’s concerns that Moscow could resort to nuclear weapons amid battlefield setbacks.
The recent US diplomatic blitz on the war has sent Kyiv and key allies scrambling to ensure a seat at the table amid concerns that Washington and Moscow could press ahead with a deal that won’t be favourable to them.
France calls an emergency meeting of EU countries
France called an emergency meeting of European Union countries and the UK on Monday to decide how to respond. French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday said he spoke by phone to Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy following the meeting. The Saudi-owned satellite channel Al Arabiya, citing the Russian delegation, described Moscow’s priority as “real normalisation with Washington”.
Diriyah Palace sits across the street from Riyadh’s Diplomatic Quarter. It’s also just next to the Ritz Carlton hotel, which became famous in 2017 after de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman detained other princes and the country’s elite there as part of what the royal court called a crackdown on corruption, which also sidelined any potential challenge to his taking control of the kingdom.
(With inputs from AP)
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