NEW YORK, February 26. /TASS/. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has asserted that Washington intends to test the sincerity of Russia’s intention to reach the settlement of the Ukraine crisis.
"I don’t know," the top US diplomat said in an interview with Fox News, replying to a question on the matter. "I think, we’re going to test it," he added.
Rubio noted that Washington is going to send teams of US diplomats to discuss the details of the settlement with their Russian colleagues.
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. 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.
The talks became possible due to the February 12 phone conversation between Putin and Trump. The two leaders discussed a number of international issues, including the settlement in Ukraine, and agreed to arrange an in-person meeting.