Kremlin says Foreign Minister Lavrov and Putin’s foreign policy advisor Ushakov will fly to meet with US representatives
Pravda Ukraine
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Yuri Ushakov, Russian ruler Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy advisor, will fly to Saudi Arabia to meet with US representatives.
Source: Kremlin-aligned Russian media outlets with reference to Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov
Quote from Peskov: “Today [17 February – ed.], Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and presidential aide Yuri Ushakov are flying to Riyadh on Putin’s instructions. They are expected to meet with their US counterparts on Tuesday.”
Details: Peskov claimed that the meeting would be dedicated “first of all, to the restoration of the entire complex of Russian-American relations”.
“It will also be devoted to preparing possible negotiations on a Ukrainian settlement [as the Russians say about their unprovoked aggression against Ukraine – ed.] and organising a meeting between the two presidents,” Peskov concluded.
Background:
- It was reported earlier that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had already arrived in Saudi Arabia on 17 February, where talks between the US and Russian delegations on resolving the war in Ukraine are to take place.
- The Axios news outlet said that the meeting between Russian and US representatives will take place on 18 February.
- On 16 February, Andrii Yermak, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said that no meeting with the Russians would be planned until a plan to end the war was developed.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was not aware of the meeting in Saudi Arabia and expressed concern that the plan for the meeting was developed outside Kyiv’s control.
- Earlier, Bloomberg reported that Russian leader Vladimir Putin is assembling a team of heavyweight negotiators with decades of experience in high-level diplomacy to engage with representatives of the US president, who is seeking to broker a deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
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