By james art 
Senior American and Russian delegations gathered for talks in the capital of Saudi Arabia Riyadh on Tuesday, when the two countries began an initial round of high -bet negotiations aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.
Conversations upgrade last week A telephone conversation between President Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin During which the two leaders agreed to work together to negotiate the war.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio heads the US delegation with the best diplomat in Moscow, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who heads the Russian mission.
The US team also includes national security advisor Mike Waltz, and more special, the White House Special Messenger Steve Vikof. Vitcof met with Russian employees in Moscow recently last week to contract prisoners’ exchange contracts Liberated Mark Fogel School TeacherS
Going out of the conversations, Kremlin adviser Yuri Usaskov was optimistic, noting that the conversation lasted four and a half hours.
“It was a very serious discussion on all the issues we wanted to touch,” Ushakov said, adding that both parties agree that the better relations were in the interest of both Washington and Moscow.
The sudden American-Russian baby stunned allies in Europe and Ukraine- they both express fear of being removed In conversations that determine their collective future.
None of them is invited to participate in Saudi negotiations and Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski promised Kyiv would not recognize agreements concluded in his absence.
War not peace
Before the conversations, the Kremlin accepted the moment as a diplomatic opening for a new era in dialogue.
“From now on, we will talk about peace, not war,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview that was aired on Sunday on state television.
Meanwhile, speaking on the eve of the Saudi meeting, Lavrov reminded that Trump and Putin have agreed to end this “not normal period” when Moscow and Washington refused to talk to each other.
As a sign of the new spirit of cooperation, the Kremlin confirmed on Monday that he approved the unilateral release of an American caught with a small amount of cannabis in his luggage at an airport in Moscow earlier this month.
Over the years of Biden, several Americans – including basketball star Britney Greiner and teacher Fogel – have received prison sentences for such charges. They were among several Americans imprisoned by Russia on dubious accusations of what the Biden Administration said it was a model of the Russian “hostage diplomacy” to promote the prisoners’ UAP.
The beginning of the end of the war
Going into the conversations, Lavrov said his job was to “listen” to American proposals and report to the Kremlin.
State Department spokesman Tammy Bruce also said the United States is there to determine how serious Moscow is to find a negotiation agreement.
However, Lavrov became clear in advance that he would reject any idea of a return to Earth applied by Russia back to Ukraine.
“They say we probably have to give territorial discounts – but for what?” said Lavrov. “So the ethnic Russians who live there can be destroyed?” Hinting at the alleged atrocities of Ukrainian troops, which have not been inspected independently.
His comments come as the last sign that with the Russian forces they win on the battlefield, Moscow may be in a little mood to compromise.
The work of US negotiators was further complicated by statements outside the White House, even before negotiations began.
President Trump has publicly stated that every peace, resting on Ukraine, terminates his ambitions to NATO and abandons the territory seized from Moscow – essentially, carrying two key Russian demands.
Sergei Markov, a former Kremlin adviser, tells the NPR that it expects Trump’s first America’s agenda that the US president has little interest in the specific conditions of an agreement.
“Trump wants to end the war,” Markov said, adding that beyond, “the only thing Trump is worried about is his image. He has the image of a strong man. He should not look like a loser.”
Putin confirmed an invitation to Trump to visit Moscow in the near future. The gesture caused speculation that Trump could join Putin in Red Square this May – when Russia celebrates the 80th anniversary of its victory in another war: World War II.
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