WASHINGTON, February 18. /TASS/. Russia-US relations can become "very productive and stabilizing," US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said following talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Riyadh.
"And as you can see, the president - President Trump - is determined to move very quickly. We just had a head-of-state phone call, the first in years. And here we are, less than a week later, at the highest level of the US and Russian government. And we expect to continue to drive that pace to not only end the war but then to unlock what could be very productive and stabilizing relationships going forward," he told reporters in televised remarks.
Russian and US delegations held talks on February 18 that lasted about 4 1/2 hours. Russia was represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov and Russian Direct Investment Fund CEO Kirill Dmitriev. The US team included US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, national security adviser Mike Waltz and Witkoff, whose mandate initially covered the Middle East, but was then effectively expanded to encompass Russia and Ukraine.
According to Ushakov, the delegations had a serious conversation on all the issues they wanted to cover, including bringing the views of Russia and the US closer together and Ukraine talks. He said it is unclear who would be appointed as negotiators for the Ukrainian settlement, as the president has yet to make a decision. Lavrov described the talks with Washington officials as very useful and said that Russia and the US agreed to work toward a swift appointment of ambassadors to both countries. The US State Department said that Lavrov and Rubio agreed to set up negotiating teams and cooperate on matters of mutual geopolitical interest.