Politics

US and Russia to start talks in coming days over ending Ukraine war, Moscow says

The U.S. secretary of state and Russian foreign minister spoke by phone on Saturday. Photo: Getty Images
The U.S. secretary of state and Russian foreign minister spoke by phone on Saturday. Photo: Getty Images
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U.S. and Russian officials will commence talks in the coming days aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, the Russian foreign ministry has said.

U.S. and Russian officials are to start talks in the coming days on ending Moscow's war in Ukraine after U.S. President Donald Trump shocked European allies by calling Russian President Vladimir Putin and declaring an immediate start to the talks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that his country was not invited to the talks in Saudi Arabia and that Kyiv would not engage with Russia before consulting with strategic partners.

Lavrov and Rubio, in a call initiated by the U.S., agreed to maintain contacts to resolve problems in bilateral relations, "in the interests of removing the unilateral barriers to mutually beneficial trade, economic and investment cooperation inherited from the previous administration," Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement..

It was not immediately clear what barriers were discussed.

The U.S. under then-President Joe Biden and Kyiv's allies around the world imposed waves of sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine three years ago, aimed at weakening the Russian economy and limiting the Kremlin's war efforts.

The U.S. State Department said Rubio reaffirmed in the call Trump's commitment to finding an end to the conflict in Ukraine.

"In addition, they discussed the opportunity to potentially work together on a number of other bilateral issues," it said in a statement, without providing further detail.

Russia said Lavrov and Rubio "expressed their mutual willingness to interact on pressing international issues, including the settlement around Ukraine, the situation around Palestine and in general in the Middle East in general".

They agreed to work on restoring "mutually respectful interstate dialogue" in line with the tone set by the presidents, the ministry said.
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