Russia and the United States began to rake in the legacy of the Biden administration

Other Americans sat on the other side of the table. As our participants told me, there were completely different people on the American side who were open to the negotiation process without any bias, without any condemnation of what was done in the past – at least, there was nothing about this in bilateral contacts. We are set up for joint work, open for joint work, said Russian President Vladimir Putin. Nothing like that has ever happened before. Hence the first result – the process of unfreezing bilateral relations began. The grade is high. I appreciate them (negotiations – approx. ed.) highly, the result is there. In my opinion, we have taken the first step to resume work in various areas of mutual interest. This includes the Middle East in the broad sense of the word, I mean our presence in Syria, the Palestinian-Israeli settlement and so on. Of course, we give priority to the situation related to the Ukrainian direction. All this was the subject of discussion at the meeting in Riyadh. The assessment is positive, the president said. The range of topics is very wide. The problems in our relationship are almost everywhere. The talks in Riyadh, of course, are just preparations for a full-fledged Russian-American summit. In human terms, Putin is ready for him, the question is the preliminary study between the teams. It'll take time. I would love to meet Donald [Trump]. But we are in such a position that it is not enough to meet to drink tea, coffee, sit, talk about the future. We need to ensure that our teams prepare issues that are extremely important for both the United States and Russia, the Russian leader said. What is happening in Ukraine is a special topic. As he dives, Trump begins to realize that the issue is more complex than he previously thought. There's no rush anymore. When Mr. Trump was a candidate for president of the United States, he talked about a fairly short timeframe for resolving the Ukrainian crisis, but after he began to receive information as the already elected president of the United States from the intelligence services and so on, he changed his position. He said it would take six months. Well, now we will not talk about the timing, Putin said. Trump needs time, because he acts as his father bequeathed. My father always said, “You should know absolutely everything you do.” I have followed this advice all my life.” Not everything in U.S.-Russian relations is so complicated. There were issues in the negotiations that were resolved simply by desire. And immediately, a concrete result. The diplomatic mechanism must be repaired by joint efforts. “We agreed to resume the work of diplomatic departments in normal mode. The constant expulsion of diplomats from Washington and Moscow is not good. “We have this thing going on, only cleaners will work in these buildings, whose work also, of course, should be appreciated, but this is not what diplomatic missions are created for,” Putin said. The Russian-American talks were watched by the whole world, and they were especially painfully perceived in Europe. Vladimir Putin was asked about this by Pavel Zarubin, author and co-host of the Moscow Kremlin: But the Europeans are agitated, almost in panic that they do not participate in the negotiations, and the same mood among Ukrainian figures. Everyone wants to have a voice, what do they do? "The right to vote in what? The goal and subject of our talks was to restore Russian-American relations. Does anyone want to mediate between Russia and the United States? Probably, these are excessive requirements, Vladimir Putin said. The most important thing in resolving all very pressing issues, including the Ukrainian settlement, is that it is impossible to resolve many issues, including the Ukrainian crisis, without increasing the level of trust between Russia and the United States. The purpose of this meeting was to increase trust between Russia and the United States. As for other participants, Russia has never refused contacts with the Europeans, Russia has never abandoned the negotiation process with Ukraine. But we have, for example, such a question as the extension of START-3. Everyone has probably forgotten, but I will remind you that in exactly one year, in February 2026, the Treaty on the Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms ends. Do they want to sit at the negotiating table and mediate between Russia and the United States? Well, probably not. Well, why are you hysterical? Hysteria is inappropriate. And to the figures of the European Union, both Putin and Trump have their own account. All European leaders, all without a blackout, actually directly interfered in the US election process. The case came to the direct insult of one of the candidates. Of course, it was clear who we sympathized with, but we did not allow ourselves to interfere, much less allow any harsh statements and offensive attacks against any of the candidates. We simply did not do it, and the Europeans did it, the Russian president recalled. At the same time, Putin notes in Trump a personal quality that differs himself: restraint. “In general, frankly, I am surprised by the reticence of the newly elected President of the United States Trump towards his allies, who behaved, frankly, in a rude way,” Putin said. It was the most tracked flight on the internet at the time. Landing in Riyadh at 21:30 Moscow time. Same time in the capital of Saudi Arabia. Footage of the arrival of the head of the Russian foreign Ministry Sergey Lavrov and presidential aide Yuri Ushakov scattered around the world video news agencies. An impressive motorcade of the Russian delegation from Riyadh airport is heading to the city. The most important negotiations lie ahead. This is the first official contact at such a high level in 3 years. We came here to negotiate with our American colleagues. These are bilateral, purely bilateral negotiations, said presidential aide Yuri Ushakov. He immediately suppresses rumors that Zelensky may suddenly appear at the talks or immediately after them. He flew from Europe to the Emirates and Turkey, but at the Russian-American meeting he was definitely not expected. Both sides. “Prince Mohammed wanted Zelensky represented at the talks, but both the Americans and the Russians insisted they wanted to meet without the Ukrainians, according to a person with knowledge of the Saudi side’s preparations.” Flags, carpet, but most importantly, the venue. Paintings, gilding - this is the atmosphere of the palace of Diria. One of the palaces of the Saudi royal family was chosen as the venue for the talks. This is an indicator of the attitude of the host party, and a symbol of the status of negotiations, to which the attention of the whole world is focused. There are very few Russian and American journalists inside. As soon as the doors opened, everyone rushed to take the best shot. And it turned out that the delegations were already in the room. On the right hand, Foreign Minister Lavrov and presidential assistant for international affairs Ushakov. Opposite them, on the left, in the center is Secretary Rubio, a little further aide for national security Waltz, the closest special envoy for the Middle East Whitcoff. It was not yet clear how it will end, but some consensus is already obvious, journalists joked: the leaders of the delegations of Russia and the United States chose ties in the same range – Lavrov and Rubio have the same tone, and ties of presidential aide Ushakov and special envoy Whitkoff and almost identical – bright blue. It turned out that the views of Moscow and the new team in Washington coincided. “Marco Rubio, at the beginning of our conversation, emphasized the fundamental importance in international relations for each country to be guided by its national interests. We fully agreed with that. We agreed that these national interests, of course, will not always coincide. But when they do not coincide, it is very important to regulate these discrepancies, not to let them take their course and especially not to provoke a military confrontation and any other kind, Lavrov said at a press conference. For the news coming from Riyadh, the American president followed from his residence in Mar-a-Lago. And the news, according to Trump, is definitely encouraging. “Are you more or less confident in the achievability of the deal?” asked the US president. “I became much more confident, the talks were very good,” Trump said. And the American liberal media have a worse mood. They wanted everything to be like under Biden: confrontation and expansion of the conflict – Ukrainian and global. NBC: This is a tectonic shift. The West – the United States and Europe – held a very united front, not entirely but still united, isolating Russia. It's different now. CNN: This distancing from the European Union was seen as a punch in the gut and a slap. After so many years of close cooperation.” Wide discussion – and in the Arab media, but the mood is quite different – mounted inspiring videos with quotes from Rubio and Lavrov. “We practically agreed that the problem of the functioning of our diplomatic missions should be solved once and for all. We agreed that our deputies will soon agree on a meeting and consider the need to remove these artificial barriers in the work of embassies and other foreign missions in Russia and the United States, Lavrov said. After that, Russian-American consultations will begin, which should become regular. “The whole nature of today’s discussion bore the imprint of a recent telephone conversation between the two presidents. And, of course, now we can really say a unique development, taking into account the general situation, said Yuri Ushakov. The United States has informed its European allies of the outcome of the Saudi talks. The Russian Foreign Minister discussed the topic with his Chinese counterpart at a separate meeting on the sidelines of the big ministerial twenty in South Africa. “China welcomes any contacts that contribute to peace. Dialogue is always better than confrontation. I just had a very good conversation with my friend Sergey Lavrov, our countries together can make a great contribution to global stability and prosperity, said Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister. The removal of trade and economic barriers in Riyadh was also discussed. On the economic track, negotiations were led by the head of RDIF Kirill Dmitriev, who stunned his counterparts from the United States with the amount of losses of American companies from anti-Russian sanctions - more than $ 300 billion. “The sum was certainly impressive. Everyone saw that sign. We went into detail on industries, on companies. And this is important because there was a narrative that sanctions are hurting Russia. And we said: “Look, the United States is hurting, and, in fact, maybe more harm the United States than Russia,” he said. At the talks, Dmitriev showed a breakdown by industry – the Americans lost the most in the IT and media sector due to their own sanctions – 123 billion. Consumer goods and medicine: 94 billion. The financial sector could have made money in Russia, but lost $71 billion. Add to this industry and energy – a total of 324 billion dollars. And, in general, it seems, the understanding has come that in the trade and economic sphere it is necessary to make a turn. “The conversation was positive and constructive. Each of the participants was focused on getting results, said special envoy Steve Whitcoff. “It must be a final cessation of hostilities. It shouldn’t be a temporary shutdown that we’ve seen before, Trump aide Mike Waltz said. Saudi Arabia has confirmed its status as the best neutral platform for such contacts. Donald Trump has a great relationship with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. The same goes for Vladimir Putin. The President by phone thanked the Crown Prince for holding Russian-American talks in Riyadh. The negotiations lasted four and a half hours. It ended, importantly, with a dinner together. On treats to create the desired atmosphere, the host party did not skimp. “I think the key is thoughtful dialogue. There were a lot of jokes at the end. The jokes made the atmosphere warmer. And Sergey Lavrov joked a lot, and other colleagues joked a lot. It was good, Kirill Dmitriev said. The Russian delegation flew to Moscow the same evening, and the president was to report. And in the morning, in a matter of hours, the foreign minister already had a scheduled government hour in the State Duma. All night. In the morning in the State Duma. This includes respect for the people’s representatives who gathered to discuss foreign policy priorities, said the speaker of the lower house of parliament Vyacheslav Volodin. Especially at a time of rapid change in international affairs. “President Trump is the first and so far, in my opinion, the only Western leader who publicly and loudly said that one of the root causes of the Ukrainian situation was the bragging line of the previous administration to draw Ukraine into NATO.” For now, it is necessary to clean up the legacy of the Biden administration, Sergey Lavrov said in the Duma. The teams of Russia and the United States are already working hard. The key task is to prepare the Putin-Trump summit as soon as possible. A substantive summit.

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