Foundation Agreement for Ending War
Low Possibility of Trump-Putin Meeting Next Week,
U.S.-Russia ceasefire talks held in Saudi Arabia on the 18th. AP Yonhap News
‘[Seoul Economy]’
‘The United States and Russia held discussions in Saudi Arabia on ending the Ukraine war. During the four-hour meeting, both sides agreed to ‘lay the groundwork’ for ending the war and decided to quickly form a senior negotiation team.’,
According to the Financial Times (FT) and BBC, Tammy Bruce, spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, announced on the 18th (local time) that the ministerial meeting between the U.S. and Russian delegations had concluded in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. She explained that both sides agreed to form a senior team to establish diplomatic channels to end the war and resolve issues. Bruce emphasized, “A single phone call and meeting are not enough to establish lasting peace,” and added, “We need to take action, and significant progress has been made.”
However, there seems to be no meeting between President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin next week. Yuri Ushakov, Kremlin’s foreign affairs adviser, stated, “A separate negotiation team has agreed to initiate contact at an appropriate time,” and regarding the possibility of a meeting between Trump and Putin next week, he remarked, “It’s almost nonexistent.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. and Russia discussed issues related to restoring relations and peace negotiations for Ukraine. The U.S. delegation included Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and Special Envoy Steve Whitkoff, while the Russian delegation included Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Kremlin’s foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov, and Kirill Dmitriev, Chairman of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF). This was the first high-level meeting between the U.S. and Russia since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The FT noted, “Just weeks ago, this would have been unimaginable,” and praised the meeting as “an astonishing turnaround just days after President Trump called Putin to end the war without consulting European allies.”