Let’s pick a nice guy who’s a smart guy.” Mr Witkoff, still full of vim, has embraced the job. In just a few weeks his diplomacy has brought him to Doha, Gaza, Jerusalem, Moscow and Riyadh. Mr Witkoff’s first order of business,

Moscow’s demand during Riyadh talks rejected but allies fear Donald Trump could yet allow restoration of former Soviet bloc

As Europeans talked the possibility of contributing peacekeepers to back any Ukraine peace deal, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also said in Riyadh that Moscow would not accept the deployment of NATO troops there,

The Trump administration has initiated direct talks with Russia to end the war in Ukraine, a shift from previous U.S. efforts to isolate Moscow. The 4.5-hour meeting in Riyadh marked the first high-level U.

Senior Russian and U.S. officials met in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to discuss improving relations and an end to Moscow's war in Ukraine – without representatives from Kyiv. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov led the delegations that met at the Diriyah Palace in Saudi Arabia's capital of Riyadh.

Ukraine has considerable leverage in upcoming negotiations with Russia—as long as the United States stands by Kyiv and adopts a negotiating strategy that creates real dilemmas for Moscow. U.S. support for Ukraine has been cast into doubt in recent weeks after a flurry of comments by Trump administration officials offering unilateral concessions to Moscow and criticizing Ukraine.

Officials feasted on lamb and knafeh cheesecake with US representatives while Ukraine was frozen out of negotiations

Russia is eyeing talks with the Trump administration about re-establishing a significant diplomatic presence in the US as an opening to rebuild its spy network in the West, current and former US officials say.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said that it offered the U.S. “to consider the possibility of restoring direct air traffic.”

[Photo/Agencies] MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was informed about the recent Russia-US talks in Riyadh, describing the results as positive, local media reported on Wednesday. "I've been briefed on the talks. I appreciate them.

The announcement of a formal process to try to halt the Ukraine war followed talks in which Washington attempted to reset its tense relationship with Moscow.

The ongoing war that is in its fourth year can end only when both Kyiv and Moscow are party to the US-mediated ceasefire, if not peace, deal to silence their guns.