US and Russia forge ahead on peace talks, without Ukraine

February 19, 2025 MeighTimbol News 0
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sits next to U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff during a meeting with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Saudi National Security Advisor… Purchase Licensing Rights
REUTERS | Published February 19, 2023
RIYADH, Feb 18 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration said on Tuesday it had agreed to hold more talks with Russia on ending the war in Ukraine after an initial meeting that excluded Kyiv, a departure from Washington’s previous approach that rallied U.S. allies to isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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As the 4-1/2-hour meeting in the Saudi capital was underway, Russia hardened its demands, notably insisting it would not tolerate the NATO alliance granting membership to Ukraine.

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Later on Tuesday, Trump said he was more confident after the talks and he would probably meet with Putin before the end of the month.
“Russia wants to do something,” Trump told reporters in Palm Beach, Florida. He brushed aside Ukraine’s concern about being left out of the meeting and said Kyiv should have entered talks much earlier.
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“I think I have the power to end this war,” said Trump.
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The talks in Riyadh were the first time U.S. and Russian officials met to discuss ways to halt the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two. Ukraine has said it will not accept any deal imposed without its consent, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reiterated “there must be no decision over the heads of Ukraine.”
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Even before the talks took place, some European politicians accused Trump’s administration of handing free concessions to Moscow last week by ruling out NATO membership for Ukraine and saying it was an illusion for Kyiv to believe it could win back the 20% of its territory now under Russian control.
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U.S. National Security Adviser Mike Waltz told reporters in Riyadh that the war must come to a permanent end, and this would involve negotiations over territory.

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“Just a practical reality is that there is going to be some discussion of territory and there’s going to be discussion of security guarantees,” he said.
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High-level teams would begin talks on ending the conflict and would separately work to restore the countries’ respective diplomatic missions in Washington and Moscow to ease the talks going forward, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
Rubio said he came away from the initial talks convinced that Russia was “willing to begin to engage in a serious process” but that reaching peace would involve concessions from all sides.

RUSSIA OFFERS NO CONCESSIONS

Russian officials did not mention offering any concessions and U.S. officials did not claim to have scored any in Tuesday’s meeting, leading observers to doubt whether the talks would turn into serious peace negotiations.
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Addressing Ukrainian and European concerns, Rubio said no one was being sidelined and any solution must be acceptable to all parties.
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Rubio later spoke to the top diplomats of France, Germany, Italy, Britain and the EU to brief them on the talks, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said.

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Both sides said no date had been set for a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, which both men say they want.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he had postponed a visit to Saudi Arabia planned for Wednesday until next month. Sources familiar with the matter said the decision was made to avoid giving “legitimacy” to the U.S.-Russia talks.
Kyiv says talks on how to end the war should not be held behind Ukraine’s back.
Ukraine ultimately will have a vote on whether to accept a deal negotiated between Washington and Moscow, and could reject a bad one, cautioned Evelyn Farkas, executive director of the McCain Institute and a former senior Pentagon official.
“In the worst case scenario, Ukraine will keep fighting. If their defences crumble, I don’t think that the American people want to see those pictures on television and to be held responsible,” Farkas said.
As European countries discuss the possibility of contributing peacekeepers to back any Ukraine peace deal, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Riyadh that Moscow would not accept deployment of NATO troops there, whatever flag they were operating under.
“Of course, this is unacceptable to us,” he said.
The comments by Lavrov signalled that Russia will keep pressing for further concessions in the negotiations. The opening encounter on Tuesday saw Lavrov and Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov – two veterans who have spent a combined 34 years in their current roles – negotiate with three Trump administration officials in their first month on the job.
“So far I have seen zero evidence that Putin is willing to give one inch in order to negotiate a peace deal,” Michael McFaul, who served as U.S. ambassador to Russia under former President Barack Obama, wrote on X.

POTENTIAL ‘ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIPS’

Lavrov said there was “high interest” in lifting economic barriers between the two countries. After the invasion, the U.S. and other Western countries imposed waves of sanctions on Moscow.
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Rubio said European countries have also imposed sanctions, so they would have to be involved in talks on lifting the measures. If the conflict ultimately ended, he added, it would “unlock” opportunities for U.S.-Russian cooperation, including “some pretty unique, potentially historic economic partnerships.”
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The fast-moving diplomacy, beginning with a Putin-Trump phone call only six days ago, has triggered alarm in Ukraine and European capitals that the two leaders could cut a quick deal that ignores their security interests, rewards Moscow for its invasion and leaves Putin free to threaten Ukraine or other countries in the future.
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Tuesday’s talks also sparked concern in Washington, which has backed Ukraine’s defence with billions of dollars of military aid approved by the U.S. Congress on a bipartisan basis.
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“Russia has won Round One,” U.S. Representative Jake Auchincloss, a Massachusetts Democrat who is a co-chair of the bipartisan House Ukraine caucus, told Reuters.
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“The Kremlin has been normalised in bilateral diplomacy that excludes Ukraine and NATO, and they gave up nothing to get that.”

 

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SOURCE: www.reuters.com

RELATED: U.S.-Russia Talks Begin: Moscow Pours Cold Water On Expectations, Says No Territorial Concessions in Pre-Negotiation Positioning


Marco Rubio and Sergei Lavrov meet for talks on Ukraine, but even before sitting down Russia demonstrated its hard bargaining mindset.
BREITBART | Published February 18, 2025

Marco Rubio and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov have met for talks on the future of the Ukraine war, but even before sitting down, Russia made clear it was approaching things with a hard bargaining mindset.

Images of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, flanked by America’s Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and sitting opposite Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and President Putin’s advisor Yuri Ushakov have been published as talks begin on Tuesday morning.

It is the first high-level talks between the U.S. and Russia since Moscow launched a second invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago. The talks are taking place at the Al Diriyah Palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and are being mediated by Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud. They are not intended to find answers for the Ukraine War directly but rather to create an environment where, later, the U.S. and Russian Presidents can meet face-to-face for real negotiations.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, second left, meets with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Saudi National Security Advisor Mosaad bin Mohammad Al-Aiban, U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, third left, U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, left, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov, second right, at Diriyah Palace, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday Feb. 18, 2025. (Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP)

Indeed, President Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that from a Russian perspective, the primary purpose of today’s talks is “restoring the whole complex of Russian-American relations” and organising a future leader meeting.

Despite the narrow intent of today’s talks, European leaders, including Ukraine, have expressed disquiet at not being invited to attend. Ukraine has vowed to ignore any peace deal agreed over its head, and European leaders held their own “emergency” summit on Monday to discuss what was characterised beforehand as “the challenges posed by Trump.”

As expected with such major negotiations, both sides started early with their hard bargaining tactic positioning. Russia’s Lavrov, a political survivor who has been Russia’s foreign minister for over 20 years, made clear in comments as he flew to Saudi Arabia on Monday that he would be representing Russia’s worldview on the Ukraine war — itself so alien to most Westerners it might prove a negotiating stumbling block all of its own — and would start talks from a position of Russia surrendering no territory whatsoever, Reuters stated.

Lavrov also took the time to nettle European leaders, already reportedly smarting from not being invited to today’s talks, to say there would have been no point asking them to peace talks anyway as their only interest — in his view — is in prolonging the war. Lavrov said: “The European philosophy hasn’t gone anywhere, so I don’t know what they should do at the negotiating table. If they are going to weasel out some cunning ideas about freezing the conflict — while actually intending, as is their custom, nature, and habit — to continue the war, then why should we invite them at all?”.

In other respects, Russia’s concerns appear to mirror Ukraine’s in that it doesn’t want to see a ‘peace’ used as a pretext to re-arm Ukraine for a later resumption of hostilities, Lavrov said. Ukraine has said for weeks it wants any ceasefire to be permanent, with total deterrence of future Russian aggression, so it doesn’t merely use it as time to rebuild its military for a subsequent re-invasion.

Other hard bargaining positions included Lavrov saying Russia would be entering talks with an expectation that the West would have to answer in some way for supporting the Ukrainian government, which he reminds the official position of the Russian state, is that Kyiv is a “Nazi regime”. Ukraine has committed war crimes “worse than Hitler’s murderers” in the course of their defence against Russia’s invasion, he said. Ukraine also accuses Russia of war crimes.

As with all negotiations, the discovery of what is genuine and what are bids to gain early leverage awaits.

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SOURCE: www.breitbart.com

RELATED: Russia rules out territorial concessions on eve of talks with Trump team


FILE PHOTO: Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a joint press conference with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan following their meeting in Moscow, Russia January 21, 2025. Alexander Nemenov/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
THE STRAITS TIMES | Published February 18, 2025

MOSCOW – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday ruled out territorial concessions to Ukraine, setting out a tough opening stance on the eve of talks on Tuesday with U.S. President Donald Trump’s team in Saudi Arabia.

Trump said after a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday that the two sides would begin talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.

The Kremlin said Lavrov and Yuri Ushakov, a Kremlin foreign policy adviser who has also been ambassador to Washington, would meet U.S. officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

Lavrov said there would be no talk of territorial concessions to Ukraine, around 20% of which is controlled by Russian forces.

“Territorial concessions to what is now called Ukraine were made by the Soviet leadership during the formation of the USSR,” Lavrov said before heaping scorn on a Ukrainian bid to do a deal giving the United States access to minerals.

“How should we give in – with Russian people or with rare earth metals?” Lavrov said.

Reuters reported in November that Putin was ready to negotiate a deal with Trump, but would refuse to make major territorial concessions and would insist Kyiv abandon ambitions to join NATO.

A source with knowledge of Kremlin thinking said on Monday that Putin was serious about doing a deal, but not at any price.

The Kremlin said the talks would focus on restoring Russian-U.S. relations and preparations for possible talks on ending the war.

The administration of U.S. president Joe Biden, most EU leaders and Ukraine cast Russia’s war as a land grab aimed at restoring Russian power. Kyiv and some EU leaders say that if Putin wins, he could try to attack NATO.

Russia dismisses that interpretation and denies any such plan. Putin says his “special military operation” was needed to protect Russian speakers in Ukraine and counter what he said was the threat from potential Ukrainian NATO membership.

The United States shocked European leaders last week by saying that Ukraine’s place was not in NATO, that a return to its pre-2014 borders was unrealistic and that Europe would not be part of negotiations with Russia and Ukraine.

Lavrov said he saw no role for Europe at the table:

“If they’re going to come up with some crafty ideas about freezing the conflict like this, and they themselves … have in mind the continuation of the war, then why invite them?”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said he is ready to put peacekeeping troops in Ukraine, with European leaders meeting in Paris on Tuesday to discuss Europe’s role in a ceasefire.

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SOURCE: www.straitstimes.com

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