Putin says that no one has excluded Ukraine from peace negotiations

“In the course of the telephone conversation, the president of the United States, Donald Trump, confirmed, Of course, that is part of the negotiating process will continue with the participation of Russia and Ukraine. No one excludes Ukraine from this process “, Putin mentioned to the press in St. Petersburg, where he is on a work trip.

Putin stressed that the meeting held in the Saudi capital was aimed at increasing trust between Moscow and Washington and to normalize diplomatic relations.

“The most important thing when fixing all urgent issues (…) is that, without increasing trust between Russia and the US, it will be impossible to solve, among other things, the Ukrainian crisis,” affirmed.

In this context, Putin said that Russia and the US do not require intermediaries in their bilateral relations.

“What do they want? Sitting at the negotiating table and being intermediaries between Russia and the United States? Surely not. Why is that hysteria? There is no reason for hysteria”, questioned.

On the other hand, he referred to the Europeans and assured that “They themselves are guilty of what is happening now” In their relations with the US.

“In fact, all European leaders, without exception, directly interfered into the electoral process in the US. The point of uttering insults against one of the candidates “, He said in reference to Trump.

Putin added: “Frankly, I am surprised by the newly elected US president, Trump, towards his allies, who, honestly, behaved rudely. It behaves quite educated with them. “

The Kremlin described the meeting between representatives of Russia and the US, held on Tuesday in Riyadh, as a “Important step” For the peaceful solution in Ukraine.

“There was a very, very important step towards the creation of the necessary conditions for a peaceful arrangement,” The presidential spokesman, Dmitri Peskov declared to the press.

Peskov highlighted “The political will” shown by both countries in the Saudi capital, where it was agreed to implement negotiating teams to find a peaceful solution to the war, which will turn three years on February 24.

Russia and the United States negotiated on Tuesday the mutual respect of their interests and the normalization of their diplomatic relations during Riyadh negotiations. However, They have not yet initiated formal conversations for an arrangement of the conflict in Ukraine.

This is the first meeting between a Russian Foreign Minister and a Secretary of State from the US since the one held in January 2022a month before the start of the war, between the Russian Serguéi Lavrov and his counterpart Antony Blinken.

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AS