Congressman claims 'victory' for Moscow in first round of Ukraine talks

During a meeting with a delegation of US representatives in Riyadh, Russia has won the first round of negotiations on the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine. This opinion was expressed on February 19 by Jake Ochincloss, co-chairman of the Caucus on Ukraine in the House of U.S. Representatives.

"The Kremlin has achieved the normalization of bilateral diplomatic relations that exclude Ukraine and NATO, and he has sacrificed nothing for this," Reuters reports his words.

In addition, Ochincloss added that Kiev's representatives should join the process later, and endorsed the White House's stance of not inviting European Union (EU) allies to the negotiating table because of the "difficulty of progress" in the talks.

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

TheRussian and United States delegations met at one of the royal family palaces in Riyadh earlier on February 18. Moscow was represented by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Ushakov and Dmitriev. On Washington's side, the meeting was attended by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. Presidential National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and the U.S. leader's special envoy to the Middle East Steven Whitkoff.