U.S.-Russia Talks in Saudi Arabia Set to Go Beyond Ukraine

Senior American and Russian officials met in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for the most extensive negotiations between the two countries in at least three years, as President Trump pushes to end the war in Ukraine and the Kremlin seeks warmer ties with Washington.

Ahead of the talks in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, Russian officials said they would pursue “normalization” with the United States, even holding out the possibility that major American oil companies could return to Russia.

Ukraine and Europe were watching from a distance with deep apprehension, amid fears that Mr. Trump could try to force a peace deal on Ukraine that would be favorable to Russia.

The meeting, which comes less than a week after Mr. Trump’s lengthy phone call with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, adjourned briefly for noon prayers before resuming.

Mr. Trump said afterward that the two leaders had spoken of “the great benefit” that the United States and Russia “will someday have in working together” and that they had agreed to “start negotiations immediately” to end the war in Ukraine.

The U.S. delegation was led by Marco Rubio, the secretary of state; Michael Waltz, the national security adviser; and Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s Middle East envoy and a longtime friend of Mr. Trump.

The delegation met Tuesday at the Diriyah Palace in Riyadh with Sergey V. Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister; and Yuri Ushakov, Mr. Putin’s foreign policy adviser. Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, was expected to participate in talks later in the day.

Mr. Ushakov told reporters after landing in Riyadh that the goal of the talks would be “to start a real normalization of the relationship between us and Washington.”

Mr. Dmitriev, who worked with Mr. Witkoff to broker the release last week of an American schoolteacher jailed in Russia, said he would seek to restart economic cooperation with the United States to “rebuild communication, rebuild trust, rebuild success.”

“U.S. oil majors have had very successful business in Russia,” Mr. Dmitriev said in a brief interview on Tuesday before the talks began, offering an example of how the countries could rebuild business ties. “We believe at some point they will be coming back, because why would they forego these opportunities that Russia gave them to have access to Russian natural resources?”

Leading Western oil companies, including Exxon Mobil, joined many other businesses in pulling out of Russia three years ago amid outrage over Mr. Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Energy and economic ties were among the topics of the call between Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump last week, according to Mr. Trump and the Kremlin.

Russian commentators have expressed the hope that talks with the Trump administration and a peace deal in Ukraine could pave the way for the United States to lift the severe sanctions imposed by the Biden administration against Moscow.

Mr. Dmitriev appeared to be hoping to engage with the Trump team by addressing the American president’s interest in profit and natural resources.

He said he would present the American delegation with an estimate showing that American companies lost $300 billion by leaving Russia.

“We need to put all facts on the table and then have a discussion based on facts, and not just ideological dogmas,” Mr. Dmitriev said. “We saw that President Trump is focused on having success.”

Tuesday’s discussions are the first time after Mr. Putin’s invasion in early 2022 that broad delegations of senior American and Russian officials are known to have met in person.

The meeting is another step in Mr. Trump’s bid to end the diplomatic isolation of Russia that former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. sought to enforce after the invasion — a step that the Trump administration says is necessary o stop the war.

“If there is going to be the possibility of progress here towards peace, we are going to need to talk to the Russians,” Mr. Rubio said on the CBS show “Face the Nation” on Sunday.

But in Europe and Ukraine, the news of Tuesday’s planned talks has been met with confusion and concern. While Mr. Rubio characterized the talks as preliminary, there was widespread criticism in Europe that Mr. Trump’s approach to Russia had not been coordinated with allies of the United States. And Ukrainian officials insisted they would reject any agreement about their country that was negotiated without their involvement.

“We cannot recognize any agreements made about us without us,” President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said Monday.

Mr. Zelensky has also been in the Gulf region this week, where several countries have sought to use their relationships with Moscow, Kyiv and the West to play roles as mediators in the Ukraine war. On Monday, Mr. Zelensky was in the United Arab Emirates to discuss prisoner exchanges and the return of Ukrainian children from Russia.

On Tuesday, Mr. Zelensky was set to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey in the Turkish capital, Ankara.

Ukrainian officials have also said that Mr. Zelensky will be in Saudi Arabia this week, but that Ukraine was not invited to the U.S.-Russia talks. Mr. Ushakov, the Kremlin foreign policy adviser, said there were no plans for a three-way meeting with the Ukrainians.

“We came here to hold negotiations with American colleagues,” he said.

For Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, hosting the talks has offered a major opportunity to solidify his status as a global leader with influence that extends beyond the Middle East.

The Saudis, in a Foreign Ministry statement, said they were welcoming the Russians and Americans “as part of the Kingdom’s efforts to enhance security and peace in the world.”

Like other countries in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia has avoided taking sides in the Ukraine war.

It has sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine while cultivating close ties with Russia. When a Ukraine peace conference was held in Switzerland last June that excluded Russia, Saudi Arabia and the neighboring United Arab Emirates refused to sign the final joint statement.

On Tuesday, two senior Saudi officials — Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the foreign minister; and Musaed al-Aiban, the national security adviser — were seated at the table with the American and Russian officials at the start of their meeting.

Andrew E. Kramer contributed reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine.