Signs of Improvement in US – Russia Ties, Agree to Try Ending Ukraine War
NEW DELHI, Feb 18: Russia and the United States on Tuesday agreed to start working towards ending the war in Ukraine and improving their diplomatic and economic ties.
America’s top diplomat said the talks reflected an extraordinary about-face in U.S. foreign policy under President Donald Trump.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the two sides agreed broadly to pursue three goals: to restore staffing at their respective embassies in Washington and Moscow, to create a high-level team to support Ukraine peace talks, and to explore closer relations and economic cooperation. He stressed, however, that the talks — which were also attended by his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov — marked the beginning of a conversation, and more work needs to be done down the road.
Speaking to presspersons after the meeting, Mr Lavrov said in his view, “the conversation was very useful.” He mentioned the same three goals as Mr Rubio.
No Ukrainian officials were present at the meeting which came as the beleaguered country is slowly but steadily losing ground against Russian troops in a grinding war that began nearly three years ago. President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country would not accept any outcome from the talks if Kyiv was not a part of the discussions. European allies have also expressed concerns that they were being sidelined.
“Should this conflict come to an acceptable end, the incredible opportunities that exist to partner with the Russians geopolitically on issues of common interest and frankly, economically on issues that hopefully will be good for the world and also improve our relations in the long term,” Mr Rubio said.
“We not only listened, but also heard each other,” said Mr Lavrov. “And I have reason to believe that the American side has started to better understand our position, which we have once again outlined in detail, using specific examples, based on President Putin’s repeated speeches.”
Tuesday’s meeting was also meant to pave the way for a summit between Mr Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. After the talks wrapped, Mr Putin’s foreign affairs advisor, Yuri Ushakov, told Russia’s Channel One that no date has been set yet for that summit but that it was “unlikely” to take place next week.
Mr Rubio said on Tuesday that ending the conflict would require concessions from all sides and that Europe would be a part of talks. In talking about sanctions against Russia, Mr Rubio noted that the measures have come from the U.S.’s allies as well. “The European Union is going to have to be at the table at some point because they have sanctions as well that have been imposed,” he said.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday said Mr Putin has repeatedly expressed readiness for peace talks, and noted that a durable settlement of the conflict in Ukraine would be impossible without “a comprehensive consideration of security issues” in Europe.
(Manas Dasgupta)
