Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Photo: Sputnik.
Russia and the United States have agreed to initiate a process to resolve the conflict in Ukraine in the near future and appoint negotiators, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after talks in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh.
The foreign minister added that as soon as Moscow learns the name and position of the relevant US representative, the Russian leadership will immediately appoint its own participant in this process.
The Russian side told the US that it considers the deployment of NATO troops in Ukraine “unacceptable,” Lavrov said. It does not matter under which flag this military contingent appears in Ukraine—NATO, the European Union, or a national one, he added. Lavrov also commented on the recent Ukrainian drone attack on a Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC).
“This attack should convince everyone that this cannot continue any longer and that this person [Zelensky] and his entire team must be stopped,” Lavrov said.
Earlier, several European leaders met in Paris to discuss the situation in Ukraine in light of the resumption of bilateral Russian–American dialogue, including the recent telephone conversation between presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.
According to media reports, opinions were divided at the meeting on the possibility of sending European peacekeepers to Ukraine. In particular, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz considered it premature and inappropriate to discuss this issue, while British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that the potential deployment of European troops to Ukraine must be supported by security guarantees from the US.
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Russia and the US agree to ensure prompt appointment of ambassadors
During the bilateral meeting in Saudi Arabia, Russia and the United States agreed to quickly appoint ambassadors in Washington DC, and Moscow, respectively, Sergey Lavrov announced.
In addition, the deputy foreign ministers of the two countries “will agree to meet in the very near future and consider the need to remove artificial barriers to the work of Russian embassies and other foreign institutions in the US and the US in Russia,” the foreign minister continued.
In December 2016, after the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton, had lost the US presidential election to Donald Trump, the Democrat administration of Barack Obama expelled 35 Russian diplomats from the US and seized Russian diplomatic properties and assets in the US. The Obama administration claimed that US intelligence sources had accused Russian state agents of hacking into Democratic Party computers to undermine Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. These claims, of course, were never substantiated.
Diplomatic relations between the two countries were never officially severed; however, the Biden administration had been delaying the accreditation of a Russian ambassador to the US since last October.
During the first months of Trump’s initial presidency, the US imposed a round of sanctions on eight Russian companies in March 2017, continuing US economic warfare against Russia. In 2018, the Trump administration began sending “lethal” weapons to Ukraine, and that same year, in Washington, DC, in an apparent attempt to spite the administration of Vladimir Putin, a section of the street in front of the Russian embassy was renamed Boris Nemstov Plaza in honor of the anti-Putin politician killed in 2015.
The move to rename the street was initiated by then Senator Marco Rubio. The renaming, said Rubio, will serve as “an enduring reminder to Vladimir Putin and those who support him that they cannot use murder and intimidation to suppress dissent.” As US Secretary of State, Rubio is now responsible for conducting the foreign affairs of the country.
In February 2019, the Trump administration reneged on the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty which had been in effect since 1987 between the US and the Soviet Union and, subsequently, Russia.
Regarding the recent talks, Minister Lavrov stated that Russia and the US agreed to do everything possible to unite their efforts in the geopolitical and economic spheres and not to provoke conflicts, referring to the discussion between countries as “useful.”
Lavrov noted that the US side “has begun to better understand” Russia’s position. The Russian foreign minister also thanked the Saudi government for the opportunity to organize high-level consultations between the US and Russia.
During the meeting in Riyadh, the Russian side consisted of Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and presidential adviser Yuri Ushakov, as well as the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev.
On Washington’s side, the talks were attended by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, and US special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump held a telephone conversation on February 12, during which they discussed the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, the exchange of prisoners, the Iranian nuclear program, as well as bilateral relations.
(Sputnik Mundo) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/KW/SL
