Putin sends Russia’s top diplomat and Kremlin adviser to meet Trump officials in Saudi Arabia

On Monday, the Kremlin announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin had dispatched his foreign minister and a top adviser to engage with U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to talk about reestablishing relations and the potential for negotiations to conclude the conflict in Ukraine.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced following a Wednesday call with Putin that they would initiate discussions to halt the war in Ukraine right away, and that they had also talked about the Middle East, energy, the U.S. dollar, and Artificial Intelligence.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to arrive in Saudi Arabia to hold discussions with Russian officials together with Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security advisor, and Steve Witkoff, the White House envoy for the Middle East. Kremlin representative Dmitry Peskov announced that Sergei Lavrov, who has served as Putin’s foreign minister since 2004, and Yuri Ushakov, an advisor on foreign policy for the Kremlin, were traveling to Riyadh at Putin’s request.

“They plan to meet with their American counterparts on Tuesday, concentrating mainly on reviving the full scope of Russian-American relations,” Peskov stated.  “It will also focus on preparing potential discussions regarding the Ukrainian resolution and arranging a meeting between the two presidents.”

Peskov refused to provide any remarks on a Reuters article stating that Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, would similarly meet with the U.S. delegation. He similarly chose not to comment when questioned about whether Putin and Trump would have a face-to-face meeting in Saudi Arabia later this month.