Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 18, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 26, 2026
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The US and Russia have agreed to address bilateral issues and work towards ending the Ukraine conflict, marking the start of diplomatic efforts.
RIYADH (Reuters) - The United States and Russia agreed on Tuesday to address "irritants" to the U.S.-Russia relationship and begin working on a path to end Russia's war in Ukraine, the State Department said, making clear the effort was in its early stages.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. national security adviser Mike Waltz and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff met for 4.5 hours with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Saudi Arabia as a follow-up to U.S. President Donald Trump's telephone call with Russia President Vladimir Putin last week.
They discussed establishing a mechanism to address "irritants to our bilateral relationship" with the goal of normalizing diplomatic relations, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a statement.
The two sides also appointed high-level teams to work on ending the Ukraine conflict "as soon as possible in a way that is enduring, sustainable, and acceptable to all sides," she said.
The State Department said the meeting was an important step in an incipient process.
"One phone call followed by one meeting is not sufficient to establish enduring peace," Bruce said.
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Ed Osmond and Chizu Nomiyama)
The main topic is the agreement between the US and Russia to start diplomatic efforts to resolve the Ukraine conflict.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, national security adviser Mike Waltz, envoy Steve Witkoff, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The goal was to establish a mechanism to address issues in US-Russia relations and work towards ending the Ukraine conflict.
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