Russia, U.S. to name negotiators on ending Ukraine war: Washington

US and Russia to name teams for Ukraine peace talks, sparking concerns over potential concessions and security reorganization.

Washington said Russia and the United States will name teams to negotiate a path to ending the war in Ukraine as soon as possible, as the superpowers met on Tuesday (February 18, 2025) in Saudi Arabia without Kyiv or the EU.

However, no specifics on a possible meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin emerged from the gathering in Riyadh, the first high-level official Washington-Moscow talks since Ukraine’s 2022 invasion.

Some European leaders, alarmed by Trump’s overhaul of U.S. policy on Russia, fear Washington will make serious concessions to Moscow and re-write the continent’s security arrangement in a Cold War-style deal between superpowers.

On Tuesday (February 18, 2025), U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed to “appoint respective high-level teams to begin working on a path to ending the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible”, the State Department said.

Washington added the sides had also agreed to “establish a consultation mechanism” to address “irritants” to Russia and America’s relationship, noting the sides would lay the groundwork for future cooperation.

Russia offered less detail on the outcome of the talks, saying: “We discussed and outlined our principled positions, and agreed that separate teams of negotiators will be in touch on this topic in due course.”

“It is still difficult to talk about a specific date for a meeting between the two leaders,” said Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy aide.