U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed Tuesday to move toward normalizing diplomatic relations between the two countries and begin working on a plan to end the war in Ukraine by establishing high-level negotiating teams.
Rubio and Lavrov, who met Tuesday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, agreed to “lay the groundwork for future cooperation on matters of mutual geopolitical interest,” according to a statement issued by State Spokesperson Tammy Bruce.
“President Trump wants to stop the killings; America wants peace and is using its strength to bring countries together. President Trump is the only leader in the world who can get Ukraine and Russia to agree on that.“Bruce assured.
Rubio and Lavrov agreed in Riyadh to “establish consultation mechanisms to resolve the irritants in our relationship with the aim of taking the necessary steps to normalize the operation of our respective diplomatic missions.”
They also announced the creation of “respective high-level teams to begin working on a path to end the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible.”
Washington and Moscow also pledged to lay the foundations for cooperation on “issues of common geopolitical interest and on the historic economic and investment opportunities that will emerge from a successful end to the conflict in Ukraine.”
The meeting between the two countries' diplomatic chiefs in Saudi Arabia follows a call between the US president and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, last week in which they discussed the need to end the conflict in Ukraine.
The Trump administration has repeatedly said Ukraine must make territorial concessions and insisted that kyiv compensate with rare earth exports and other compensation for the billions in military and financial support Washington has provided over the past three years since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
“A phone call followed by a meeting is not enough to establish lasting peace. We need to take action and the steps forward taken today are important,” Bruce said.