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Russia-US scientific ties could be brought back, says presidential aide

Andrey Fursenko noted that scientific ties had never been completely frozen, some interaction had always persisted

MOSCOW, February 20. /TASS/. Resuming scientific cooperation with the US is possible, but if it is brought back, it will not look like it did in the past, Russian Presidential Aide Andrey Fursenko told TASS on the sidelines of the Future Technologies Forum.

"I think that, yes, it is possible. I think that scientific ties were never completely frozen, some interaction has always persisted. However, moving forward, things will be structured differently for various reasons," Fursenko said.

The Russian and US delegations held talks in Riyadh on February 18 that lasted for 4.5 hours.

In Saudi Arabia, Russia was represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov, and CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, national security adviser Mike Waltz, and special envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff represented the US.

According to Ushakov, the delegations had a serious conversation on all the issues they wanted to touch upon, including the rapprochement of the positions of the Russian Federation and the United States and interaction on Ukraine. He specified that it was not yet known as to who will negotiate on the Ukrainian settlement and Russian President Vladimir Putin will have the final say.

Lavrov described the conversation as very productive and said that Russia and the United States had agreed to ensure the appointment of ambassadors in both capitals as soon as possible.

In turn, the State Department noted that Lavrov and Rubio agreed to create negotiating groups on Ukraine, as well as on future cooperation on issues of shared geopolitical interest.

About forum

The Future Technologies Forum is an annual event held in Moscow since 2023. This year, it is supported by the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Russian Science Foundation and the Russian Quantum Center. It is co-organized by Gazprombank, the Moscow government and the Rosatom state corporation. Sber is the forum’s general partner, with Rosseti being its strategic partner and the Kurchatov Institute - the forum’s strategic scientific partner. TASS is the forum’s information partner.

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