Russian and U.S. officials held another round of talks in Saudi Arabia on Monday, but are not expected to release a joint statement until tomorrow, according to Russian state news agencies.
TASS and RIA Novosti reported on Monday that the meeting between U.S. and Russian delegations in Riyadh lasted for more than 12 hours. A source from the Russian delegation also told TASS that the parties “tried to agree to the text of a joint statement.” However, state news agencies later reported that the joint text will be published on Tuesday.
Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the U.S. and Russian delegations didn’t plan to sign any documents following the “consultations” in Riyadh.
Monday’s negotiations came after U.S. and Ukrainian delegations met in Saudi Arabia on Sunday for “technical talks.” According to Serhii Leshchenko, an advisor to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, the negotiations concerned a potential pause on strikes against port infrastructure in the Black Sea. “The discussion concerned a mutual ceasefire: we won’t attack their (Russian) facilities at sea and rivers, and they won’t attack our facilities, our Kherson and Mykolaiv ports, the Greater Odesa ports,” Leshchenko said, as quoted by the Kyiv Independent.
However, U.S. President Donald Trump said at a press briefing on Monday that the talks also concerned demarcation lines and ownership over power plants. “We’re talking about territory right now. We’re talking about lines of demarcation, talking about power, power plant ownership. Some people are saying the United States should own the power plant...because we have the expertise,” he said.
Trump added that he expects to sign a minerals deal with Ukraine soon.
