Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrives in Riyadh for meeting with US officials

Moscow [Russia], February 18 (ANI): Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Riyadh for a meeting with representatives of the US administration.

Sharing a post on X, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote, "Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrives in Riyadh for a meeting with representatives of the US administration."

🛬 Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrives in Riyadh for a meeting with representatives of the US administration pic.twitter.com/AxbclBCRYu

— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) February 17, 2025

Earlier on Saturday (local time), US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with his Russian counterpart Lavrov and reaffirmed US President Donald Trump's commitment to ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

According to a statement released by the US State Department spokesperson's office, the two leaders also discussed the opportunity to potentially work together on other bilateral issues. The talks between Rubio and Lavrov came after Trump's conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin earlier this week.

The US State Department spokesperson's office stated in a statement, "Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke today with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as a follow-up to President Donald Trump's conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week.

"The Secretary reaffirmed President Trump's commitment to finding an end to the conflict in Ukraine. In addition, they discussed the opportunity to potentially work together on a number of other bilateral issues," the spokesperson added.

Last week, Trump revealed that he had a productive phone call with him, where they agreed to kick-start negotiations aimed at ending the conflict in Ukraine immediately. Other than Ukraine, both leaders also discussed the Middle East, Artificial Intelligence (AI), energy and other subjects.

Trump said that he and Putin agreed to have their respective teams start negotiations immediately and begin by calling Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy regarding the conversation. Calling his conversation with Putin on a phone call "lengthy and productive," Trump said that they discussed the strengths of Russia and the US and the benefits that they will someday have by working together.

"I just had a lengthy and highly productive phone call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. We discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, Energy, Artificial Intelligence, the power of the Dollar, and various other subjects. We both reflected on the Great History of our Nations and the fact that we fought so successfully together in World War II, remembering that Russia lost tens of millions of people and we, likewise, lost so many! We each talked about the strengths of our respective Nations, and the great benefit that we will someday have in working together. But first, as we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine. President Putin even used my very strong Campaign motto of, "COMMON SENSE." We both believe very strongly in it," Trump posted on Truth Social. (ANI)

(The story has come from a syndicated feed and has not been edited by the Tribune Staff.)