Russia on Monday said its foreign minister Sergey Lavrov will be meeting his US counterpart Marco Rubio in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy aid Yuri Ushakov will also be part of the meeting in the Middle East.
Moscow’s announcement comes a day after US President Donald Trump said he could meet “very soon” with Vladimir Putin, adding he believes his Russian counterpart genuinely wants to stop fighting in Ukraine.
“No time set, but it could be very soon,” Trump told news agency AFP, hours after secretary of state Marco Rubio sought to play down expectations of upcoming high-level talks in Riyadh on ending the war.
With Rubio set to lead a high-level American delegation at the discussions with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia’s capital in the coming days, a flurry of diplomacy was taking place as the brutal Ukraine war nears its third anniversary.
Trump, addressing reporters after a flight on Air Force One, said his team has been speaking “long and hard” with Russian officials, including his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff whom the president said met with Putin for about three hours recently.
“I think he wants to stop fighting,” Trump said of Putin.
Trump and Putin spoke on Wednesday in a long phone call, agreeing to start ceasefire negotiations immediately. The call was unexpected for Nato allies and Ukraine, with Zelenskyy insisting there should be “no decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine”.
“Right now there is no process,” Rubio said after speaking with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. “One phone call does not make peace”.
In an interview with NBC on Sunday, Zelenskyyy said Putin cannot be trusted as a negotiating partner. “I don’t think in geopolitics, anyone should trust anyone,” Rubio said. “The next few weeks and days will determine whether (Putin) is serious or not.”