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The meeting of the American and Russian delegations in Saudi Arabia discussed not only Ukraine, but also strategic arms control, energy resources, and regional security in the Middle East, so there is no need to “spread the wave of betrayal” that Ukraine was not at the talks. This opinion was expressed to Ukrainian Radio by Pavlo Klimkin, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in 2014-2019.
He emphasized that "some things were covered up and not covered at the press conference," so conclusions should be drawn from the subsequent actions of both the Americans and the Kremlin.
"We see that the Americans are trying to partially normalize their relations with the Kremlin, including diplomatic ones. These are risks for us, since this could be the result of negotiations on a just peace, but by no means a prerequisite for starting contacts. Moreover, these contacts were actually legalized by the call between Putin and Trump," the diplomat emphasized.
He added that this meeting, which lasted four and a half hours, was not only about us, but also about many other aspects: about strategic arms control, about energy, about regional security in the Middle East, about oil and gas prices.
“This is another part of reality. Therefore, there is no need to immediately disperse the wave of betrayal that we were not there from the very beginning. They agreed to form teams on issues that directly concern us. Putin (Vladimir Putin is a Russian dictator, - ed.) has had them formed for a long time,” Klimkin said.
He emphasized that the stage of team formation for Ukraine "will be critical so that this does not happen over our heads."
"For us, any strong start to negotiations means that we have a strong position with Europe and the US. We don't have one yet, but it's a matter of days before we have to try to form one. There are very difficult movements within Europe, what and how to do. Therefore, we have huge challenges, but there are no other options," the former minister concluded.
Assessments of the negotiations in Riyadh
At the same time, The Telegraph noted that for the first time since the war began in February 2022, Zelensky was on the sidelines. The journalists noted that the first news from the summit suggests that there is a good reason why the Russians and Americans did not invite Zelensky to the discussion: both delegations agreed to the idea of holding elections in Ukraine before signing any peace agreement.
