Ukraine and Russia to hold indirect talks in Saudi Arabia - WP
Photo: Negotiators will be in separate rooms (Getty Images)
On Monday, negotiators from Ukraine and Russia will arrive in Saudi Arabia for ceasefire talks. However, the two sides will not meet face-to-face, informs The Washington Post.
According to Yuri Ushakov, a top foreign policy aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the US-mediated talks will focus on a ceasefire in the Black Sea. Additionally, Russia is expected to halt strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. This would mean a partial ceasefire. Moscow has also indicated that the discussions in Saudi Arabia will address grain shipments through the Black Sea, which were part of a previous agreement reached in the summer of 2022.
The Washington Post explained that negotiators from both countries will be in separate rooms, with intermediaries relaying information between them.
“They are going to be proximity discussions … sort of like shuttle diplomacy in a hotel,” Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, said in an interview with ABC News.
The Russian delegation in Riyadh will be led by Grigory Karasin, a senator overseeing foreign affairs, and Sergey Beseda, a high-ranking adviser to the director of the Federal Security Service.
According to a senior Ukrainian official who spoke anonymously, Ukraine will be represented by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov and Deputy Head of the Presidential Office Pavlo Palisa. Previously, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the delegation would also include energy experts and "people who have a deep understanding of port infrastructure."
Among the American mediators will be Michael Anton, the policy planning director under Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Kellogg’s aides and representatives from the office of National Security Advisor Mike Waltz.
Earlier, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said Ukraine views the upcoming meeting in Saudi Arabia as a bilateral discussion with US representatives. He stated that no contact between the Ukrainian and Russian teams is planned and dismissed reports of “running around between,” as previously claimed by Tykhyi.
