Vladimir Socor
Russian and Ukrainian delegations held technical-level consultations separately with U.S. representatives from the Trump Administration on March 23–25 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had outlined the agenda for this consultation in their March 18 telephone call, following Putin’s rejection of Trump’s proposal for a comprehensive, unconditional ceasefire in Russia’s war against Ukraine (see EDM, March 21).
The White House is keen to broker a ceasefire and political-diplomatic settlement. As speed remains a priority, the Kremlin has added preconditions for a ceasefire and any eventual settlement. This time the agenda focused on a maritime and aerial ceasefire and commercial navigation in the Black Sea basin. Although the U.S. delegation offered several preemptive concessions, Moscow’s representatives demanded more. Both sides released separate statements on the outcome of the talks, along with the Ukrainians’ own interpretive comments (President of Russia; The White House, March 25). Meanwhile, Russian offensive ground and air operations have continued at high rates (Ukrinform, March 23–26).
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