Both Russian and Ukrainian delegations are in Saudi Arabia for ceasefire talks, but aren’t meeting each other directly, relying on American shuttle diplomacy to inch towards a settlement.
Russia-U.S. talks began again on Monday morning in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the latest phase in back-and-forth ‘shuttle diplomacy’ efforts by the President Donald Trump administration to broker a peace in Ukraine. Speaking briefly in a break after talks had gone on three hours at the Ritz-Carlton Riyadh [pictured, top], Russian negotiator Grigory Karasin said both sides had been thrashing out “irritants”, a phrase frequently used by the Russians in recent weeks to express what they perceive as the issues existing between the two nations.
Talks had proceeded “creatively” so far, the veteran diplomat perhaps best known for his involvement in the 2014 Minsk Agreement and his meetings with former U.S. Ambassador Victoria Nuland at the time, said. Karasin was joined in Riyadh by Sergey Beseda, who is linked to Russia’s secret intelligence service the FSB, the successor to the KGB.
Representing America at the table are White House national security council director Andrew Peek and Michael Anton of the State Department.
Russian state media, meanwhile, relates comments from President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who reflected in a morning press briefing at the Kremlin that “The two sides are clearly willing to move toward peace, and they share a common understanding here”.
The American delegation already met with their Ukrainian counterparts in Riyadh on Sunday night prior to Monday’s contact with Russia. It is expected the American negotiators will meet with the Ukrainians again in due course as they shuttle back and forth between the parties.
Reflecting on this, advisor to the office of the Ukrainian President Serhiy Leshchenko is reported to have stated: “This is just another round, after which higher-level meetings on peace in Ukraine may take place… We just have to understand that the meetings will be quite regular, and not every meeting ends with public statements.”
Of what had been discussed in these “technical negotiations”, Leshchenko said: “This is infrastructure and shipping safety. And it was about a mutual ceasefire. We are not attacking their facilities at sea, including river facilities.
“They are not attacking our facilities and our ports – Kherson, Mykolaiv, and the ports of greater Odessa, so that they function”.
French wires service AFP also cites an unnamed Ukrainian official who states further talks will come when the American team return to them from the Russians. They are reported to have said: “We are so far waiting for the outcome of the meeting between the United States and Russia. Based on that, we will have another meeting with the United States”.
A limited ceasefire was agreed in principle by both Russia and Ukraine last week through this American shuttle diplomacy, but exactly what it will encompass and when it will begin, even, remains obscure. Very likely agreeing that date will be a feature of today’s discussions.
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