The U.S. State Department said it was laying the groundwork for talks with Russia

The U.S. State Department said that the meeting in Riyadh allowed "laying the foundation" for the development of further dialog between the United States and Russia. This was reported in the official press release of the department on February 18.

"I think this meeting is very important because we haven't talked to the Russians in almost three years, and it lays the groundwork for future conversations. How things play out will depend on the parties and their willingness not just to make commitments, but to fulfill them," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

The diplomat also shared plans for further work on geopolitical and economic cooperation between the two countries, which may emerge after the end of the conflict in Ukraine.

In turn, U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz noted that the delegations have now managed to reach "some fundamental principles." One of them is that the confrontation in Ukraine should end definitively and not just be frozen for a while.

"We know that the practical reality is that there will be some discussion on territories and there will be a discussion on security guarantees. These are just the fundamentals that will underpin any type of discussion," he said.

Listening and hearing each other. How the meeting with the US delegation ended

TheRussian and United States delegations met at a royal palace in Riyadh earlier in the day. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the talks very useful. According to him, the sides "did not just listen, but heard each other."