(Adnkronos) – The US and Russia’s first talks on ending the war in Ukraine – held in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Tuesday, without representatives from Kiev or the European Union – were a “pour parler”, according to Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani.
“We are not talking about negotiations. There have been two phone calls and an informal meeting… a ‘pourparler’ between the Americans and Russians,” Tajani told Italy’s public Rai Radio Anch’io programme.
“A (peace) treaty cannot be framed without the Ukrainians and Europeans, that is obvious. Talks between Americans and Russians were expected and inevitable,” Tajani said.
“We have always said that the war would not end without the intervention of the United States and Russia, but also, I would say, of China,” said Tajani.
Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov met US secretary of state Marco Rubio during Tuesday’s Riyadh talks, which lasted four hours.
The US claims the talks are a first step to see if Russia is “serious” about ending the nearly three-year-old war which began when Russia launched a full-scale military invasion of the former Soviet republic on 24 February 2022.
Russia says it hopes to normalise relations with America while its president Vladimir Putin has said is willing to speak to his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky “if necessary”.
