US and Russian delegations to meet in Saudi Arabia tomorrow: Details
Illustrative photo: US and Russian delegations to meet in Saudi Arabia (Getty Images)
A meeting between US and Russian delegations is scheduled to take place in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, February 18. The parties will discuss possible negotiations to end the Russian-Ukrainian war, Axios and NBC News report.
Who to represent US at meeting
According to American media, the US delegation at tomorrow’s meeting with the Russians will include:
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio,
- National Security Advisor Michael Waltz,
- and Special Envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff.
Who might represent Russia
There is yet no information on who will lead the Russian delegation at the meeting. However, Western media suggest that it could be:
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov,
- as well as Yury Ushakov, Aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin,
- and Sergey Naryshkin, Head of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Russia.
Possible formats: US-Russia, US-Ukraine, Ukraine-Russia-US
According to NBC, the US did not invite Ukraine to this meeting with the Russians in Saudi Arabia.
Washington’s reasoning, as reported by NBC, is its desire to first hold a bilateral meeting with Russia, followed by a bilateral meeting with the Ukrainian delegation, and only then proceed to joint negotiations.
US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia
On February 13, US President Donald Trump announced that representatives of the US, Ukraine, and Russia would supposedly meet in Saudi Arabia next week.
On February 14, the reports indicated that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would visit Saudi Arabia and Türkiye. However, Kyiv rejected the possibility of a meeting with the Russian side.
On February 15, Politico informed that Trump’s team would initiate Russian-Ukrainian peace talks in Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, Bloomberg wrote that a meeting between the Russian and US delegations regarding this matter would take place in Saudi Arabia next week.
After his meeting on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference last Friday with US Vice President JD Vance, President Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine had not been invited to the talks in Saudi Arabia. He added that Kyiv would not engage with Moscow without consultations with its strategic partners.
Furthermore, it was previously reported that Ukraine had begun a working visit of a government delegation to Saudi Arabia. Zelenskyy also recently mentioned his plans to visit Saudi Arabia, explaining that he already had "scheduled visits and important dialogues" there.
