Russian and American officials will hold a meeting this week to work out measures for improving bilateral ties, which are at their worst level since the Cold War amid the war in Ukraine, a senior Russian official affirmed on Sunday.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, Moscow’s lead negotiator on US relations, said the talks, set for later in the week, would include departmental heads. He reiterated Russia’s willingness to discuss, especially settling major disagreements between the two countries.
The following talks come after a February 12 telephone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, in which both presidents discussed possibilities for de-escalating tensions and negotiating an end to the conflict in Ukraine. US and Russian officials also sat down in Riyadh on February 18 as part of these continued efforts.
Trump has consistently claimed confidence that Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are open to negotiating peace. He has also claimed that Ukraine joining NATO is not realistic and conceded backing for US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s statement that Ukraine is not likely to regain its 2014 borders.
With the war now in its fourth year, Russia still controls almost one-fifth of Ukraine, including Crimea, which it annexed back in 2014, and huge sections of the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, and Luhansk regions. Moscow maintains these are now Russian lands and their position is flatly rejected by Ukraine and its Western partners.
Last June, Putin outlined his conditions for ending the war, demanding Ukraine formally abandon its NATO aspirations and withdraw from Russian-occupied territories. However, Kyiv and its European backers have dismissed these terms, insisting on Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
