WASHINGTON, February 18. /TASS/. US State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce has said that representatives of Moscow and Washington reached an agreement at talks in Riyadh to start working on the Ukrainian settlement, though "one phone call followed by one meeting is not sufficient" to fully resolve the conflict.
"One phone call followed by one meeting is not sufficient to establish enduring peace. We must take action, and today we took an important step forward," she said in a statement. At the meeting the Russian and American sides agreed to establish a consultation mechanism to address "irritants" to the bilateral relationship with the objective of taking steps necessary to normalize the operation of the two countries’ respective diplomatic missions, according to the statement. Moreover, Moscow and Washington reached a consensus on the issue of future cooperation in areas of geopolitical interest for both countries, as well as in the area of economy and investment.
The Russian and US delegations held talks in Riyadh earlier on February 18. Russia was represented at the meeting, which lasted 4.5 hours, by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov and Chief Executive Officer of the Russian Direct Investment Fund Kirill Dmitriev. On behalf of the United States, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, national security adviser Mike Waltz and special envoy for the Middle East Stephen Witkoff attended the talks.
According to Ushakov, the delegations talked at length about everything on the agenda, including bringing the positions of the two countries closer together and contacts on Ukraine. He said that the negotiators on the Ukrainian settlement were not yet appointed. In turn, the State Department said that Lavrov and Rubio agreed to create a negotiating group and to work together in the future on common geopolitical interests.