джон Хелмер, Москва
@медведи_с
Это было очевидно по медленному спуску госсекретаря США Марко Рубио, спустившегося с его лестницы самолёты, наблюдая за его ботинками, пока они не уперлись в землю в Эр-Рияде, что американской стороне на переговорах во вторник не хватило уверенного мандата Белого дома на переговоры с русскими.
Рубио был там – неопытным и нервным, как министр иностранных дел Сергей Лавров разоблачил в течение четырех с половиной часов их встречи –, чтобы организовать трибуну президента Дональда Трампа на встрече на высшем уровне, которую он хочет с президентом Владимиром Путиным. Не больше, не меньше.
Рубио в итоге получил меньше. Непонимающему Трампу, говоря на собственной пресс-конференции во Флориде пятнадцать часов спустя Рубио и советник по национальной безопасности Майкл Вальц не могут объяснить.
Перед отъездом из Москвы в Эр-Рияд Лавров указал to Tass “, что встреча была инициирована Вашингтоном, и российские официальные лица хотели бы услышать, что сказали официальные лица США. По словам Лаврова, переговорные группы России и США проинформируют своих президентов об итогах встречи в Рияхде, а Путин и Трамп примут решение о дальнейших шагах.”
Лавров имел в виду, что американцы пришли на встречу без какой-либо повестки дня, за исключением того, что сказали Трамп и Путин во время телефонного разговора 12 февраля, и никакого согласия между самими американцами о том, что сказать русским за закрытыми дверями.
“Мы не просто слушали”, Лавров сказал в брифинге для российской прессы после встречи, “но мы также услышали друг друга...Это не обязательно означает сближение позиций.” Официальная стенограмма краткой пресс-конференции Лаврова опубликована МИД здесь.
Russian Foreign Ministry publication: https://mid.ru/ru/foreign_policy/news/1998294/
Foreign Minister Lavrov is rarely as grim-faced in public as this. The last time was his briefing of the Russian press in Doha on December 7, when he was attempting to explain the advance of Turkish-led forces against the Damascus government of Bashar al-Assad. Click to watch: https://mid.ru/
For analysis, click.
In the US press conference at the same time, Rubio announced “President Trump has shifted the entire global conversation from not if the war is going to end but just how it’s going to end. And only President Trump can do that… The first is the only leader in the world who can make this happen, who can even bring people together to begin to talk about it in a serious way, is President Trump. He’s the only one in the world who can do that right now.”
The three points of agreement which Lavrov and Rubio read from notes are technical preliminaries. These are aimed, Lavrov said, “to put an end once and for all to end these inconveniences that really complicate the development of everyday normal relations.”
The points agreed are the appointment of ambassadors in Washington and Moscow; removal of restrictions the US has imposed on Russian diplomatic operations in the US, including at the United Nations in New York; and the expansion of the bilateral agenda for talks to come. These were undertakings to continue talking – there was no agreement on more because the US side came unprepared for more.
Rubio had acknowledged as much several days earlier. “If in fact there is going to be an opportunity here to pursue peace by engaging with the Russians,” he told CBS, “we’re going to need to have functional embassies in Moscow and in Washington, D.C., and that’s certainly something foreign ministers would talk about as a matter of normal course…nothing’s been finalized yet. I was scheduled to be in Saudi Arabia anyways. We announced that trip a week ago, a week and a half ago.”
In briefing another US media network after the talks in Riyadh, Rubio repeated there had been no negotiation, no agreement on the war. “We’re not going to pre-negotiate it,” Rubio said, “nor an end to this conflict. These are the kinds of things that have to happen through hard and difficult diplomacy in closed rooms over a period of time.”
Lavrov was equally cautious. “Do you consider today’s negotiations successful?” he was asked. “I think they are positive.” He meant that the US has accepted a process for negotiations. It has agreed nothing – not even a date for the summit meeting Trump wants for himself.
“QUESTION: Did you set a date for the two presidents to meet at this meeting? When can we expect that meeting? NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR WALTZ: We did not. We did not set that date. But the two presidents talked about meeting and expect to meet.”
Lavrov said more — Trump would not be getting his grandstand soon with Putin.
Instead, Lavrov said, “the foreign ministers, the national security advisors were tasked with meeting and seeing what needs to be done before the presidents can begin to negotiate a specific date and date for the summit.” The key term Lavrov emphasized for Trump’s men was “before” – перед тем — that’s process before PR.
Asked by a British reporter to comment on how the talks in Riyadh had gone, and if he was more or less confident, Trump said: “Well, much more confident. They were very good. Russia wants to do something. They want to stop the savage barbarianism”. He then repeated campaign slogans, avoiding the reports of the Riyadh talks as if he didn’t remember them. Later, asked if he would remove US forces from Europe, Trump said: “Nobody has asked me to do that so I don’t think we’d have to do that. I wouldn’t want to do that. That question has never really come up.” Trump appeared not to know that last week his Defense Secretary, Peter Hegseth, had warned of US troop withdrawals and explicitly ruled out US troop participation in a Ukrainian peacekeeping settlement. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsknETdEBFg
In Riyadh, Lavrov also revealed a split on the US side. He told Russian reporters that he had asked Rubio and Waltz what end-of-war settlement plan Trump’s emissary on Ukraine, General Keith Kellogg, had been discussing in Munich last week with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, according to Sikorsi’s public disclosure and the video record. “I asked US Secretary of State Rubio and Waltz what it means. They said it was a fake.”
Sikorski and Kellogg discussing end-of-war terms at the Munich Security Conference on February 16. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThySuZC5mFw
Lavrov was explicit on two end-of-war terms which are being widely discussed in public.
On the identification of peacekeeping forces which may be deployed in a demilitarized (Russian term) or disengagement (European Union term) zone in the Ukraine, Lavrov said “the appearance of troops of armed forces from the same NATO countries, but under a foreign flag, under the flag of the European Union, or under national flags in this regard does not change anything. This is unacceptable to us.”
At the table — Lavrov revealed to the Russian press — the US had asked for a stop to the Russian electric war campaign and a “sort of a moratorium probably to be imposed against attacks against objects of energy infrastructure.” Lavrov said he replied: “We said we had never jeopardized and attacked civilian energy infrastructure.We only attacked objects that served the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the military assets of Ukraine.”
Lavrov is confirming the restriction which the Kremlin has imposed on the General Staff in the electric war targeting of energy production plants and the electricity distribution grid in the west of the Ukraine. The campaign began in October 2022; it reached a peak in November last. But Putin imposed his restriction on the military operation days later, after back-channel communications began between Putin and Trump. For details of the electric war campaign, read this.
A military source on the electric war campaign comments: “[Lavrov’s statement] is an admission that the other side [US] is concerned about the impact of electric war. Consequently, it’s also an admission that had the electric war been accelerated without the brakes on, the larger war could’ve been over sooner, and Russian losses could have been lower.”
Source: https://www.youtube.com/Left side for the US: Secretary of State Rubio in centre, with National Security Advisor Michael Waltz on his left, Steven Witkoff on his right. Right side for Russia: Presidential assistant Yury Ushakov, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The Saudis chairing the meeting at the head of the table were Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud (left) and National Security Advisor Mosaad bin Mohammad Al-Aiban. Speaking to CNN from Israel, Rubio had said in anticipation of the talks with Lavrov: “I know of no better negotiator in American politics than Trump. I think President Trump will know very quickly whether this is a real thing or whether this is an effort to buy time.”
Note that Witkoff was sitting at the bottom of the table on the US side but his counterpart, Kirill Dmitriev, was absent. There was no place at the table, no chair for him on the Russian side.
Dmitriev, chief executive of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), has been appointed by Putin to represent Russia’s business lobby in the US negotiations. For more details, click to read.
In the Telegram messaging of Maria Zakharova, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, Dmitriev can be seen arriving at the anteroom of the conference hall with Lavrov and Putin’s foreign policy adviser, Yury Ushakov. Dmitriev ranked after these two in precedence in the anteroom, but once through the door of the conference hall, he disappeared. Lavrov had relegated him to speaking when the delegations broke for luncheon.
In the anteroom of the conference hall, Dmitriev can be seen arriving behind Lavrov and Ushakov, ranking third officially and walking behind the other two as they enter the hall, where Dmitriev then “disappeared”.
Dmitriev did, however, advertise his presence in Riyadh, speaking at greater length to the press than Lavrov or Ushakov. Dmitriev told Reuters: “”We really see that President Trump and his team is a team of problem solvers, people who have already addressed a number of big challenges very swiftly, very efficiently and very successfully.”
Dmitriev told Tass: “We cannot disclose details. Everything I can say that we have a very important track on the economy. And, clearly, there is a political issue. I am not dealing with political issues but with investment and economic issues. We have a number of proposals our colleagues are thinking of. I believe progress may be achieved there not in the long run but during the next two-three months.”
“I will be responsible for the economic aspect of the discussions,” Dmitriev told Interfax. “ ‘The figure that we are voicing for the first time now is that American business has lost more than $300 billion by leaving the Russian market,’ he said, apparently referring to the impact of sanctions imposed on Russia under former President Biden. ‘Finding joint economic paths, positive solutions to issues, is extremely important, mainly for the U.S. and for many other countries that are beginning to understand that the Russian market is extremely attractive and that it is necessary to be present in it,’ he said, adding that he hoped for ‘a positive dialogue.’”
The New York Times reported Dmitriev as telling its reporter before the talks began: “U.S. oil majors have had very successful business in Russia. We believe at some point they will be coming back, because why would they forgo these opportunities that Russia gave them to have access to Russian natural resources?”
Dmitriev speaking to the New York Times in Riyadh. Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/18/world/europe/us-russia-saudi-ukraine.html
A full Russian report of Dmitriev’s remarks from the sidelines can be read here. “The head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) Kirill Dmitriev expressed confidence that within the framework of the negotiation process of Russia and the United States, an atmosphere of dialogue has already been formed. Speaking to the press on the sidelines before the start of negotiations between the delegations of Russia and the United States in Saudi Arabia, Dmitriev pointed out that good relations between Moscow and Washington are very important for the whole world. Only together Russia and the United States will be able to respond to many world problems, resolve global conflicts and offer solutions…Dmitriev stressed that the Biden administration did not pay due attention to Russia’s concerns. ‘What we see for the while, it is very early that the American side is ready to listen to the position of Russia, is ready to understand the position of Russia,’ said the head of the RDIF. ‘And with that this is where the dialogue begins.’ In his opinion, the atmosphere of the beginning of the dialogue has already been formed. ‘And this atmosphere is to hear each other’s fears, to understand each other,” the head of RDIF stressed, adding that the parties are still at the beginning of the dialogue. I think it is very important to just start a dialogue and say: colleagues, sanctions hit American companies more than they hit Russia.’ The head of the RDIF stressed that in the framework of contacts with Washington there is both a political track and an economic one. ‘I do not deal with political issues, but on investment and economic issues, we have a number of proposals that our colleagues are thinking about.’ Dmitriev believes that progress is possible on them ‘no longer in the long term, but in the next two to three months.’ The head of the RDIF expressed confidence that Moscow and Washington need to ‘make joint projects’, including in the Arctic, which ‘will allow the economies of the two countries to be more successful.’”
Lavrov downplayed Dmitriev’s role. According to Lavrov, “the discussion of the economic aspects of our meeting was attended by the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund K.A.Dmitriev. He presented some problems that could be resolved quickly with benefit both for Russia and the United States.” Dmitriev’s presentation occurred during the lunch break.
Exactly how Dmitriev’s role will continue is undecided. At the US side’s press briefing, Witkoff was present with Rubio and Waltz. “Will you be traveling to Russia again, Mr. Witkoff?”, he was asked. “I’m not sure”, Witkoff replied. “But we’ll make that determination in the next couple of weeks.” This was the only public statement Witkoff made during the Riyadh talks. New York Times photograph of the US press briefing with (left to right), Witkoff, Rubio, and Waltz.
Rubio, who was more talkative in Israel enroute to Saudi Arabia, did not agree to a joint press conference with Lavrov.
Вместо этого его кураторы устроили пресс release объявление о встрече в Эр-Рияде как “a продолжение ” телефонного разговора Трампа с Путиным. “Президент Трамп хочет остановить убийство,” освобождение сказал, “Соединенные Штаты хотят мира и используют свою силу в мире, чтобы объединить страны. Президент Трамп - единственный лидер в мире, который может добиться согласия Украины и России на это.” Согласованы три пункта: “механизм консультаций”, “команд высокого уровня для начала работы” и “основа для будущего сотрудничества по вопросам, представляющим взаимный геополитический интерес и исторические экономические и инвестиционные возможности”. В официальном релизе эти пункты названы “обещанием продолжать участие, чтобы убедиться, что процесс продвигается вперед своевременным и продуктивным образом.”
Затем Рубио позвонил министрам иностранных дел Франции, Германии, Италии и Великобритании вместе с Верховным представителем Европейского Союза по иностранным делам, чтобы заверить их в том, что не было согласовано с русскими. Текст релиза раскрывает политический приоритет Рубио отдает европейцам, опережая Великобританию и ЕС.
Для официального отчета советник по национальной безопасности Вальц повторил Рубио; его офис не опубликовал пресс-релиза. Вальс подкосил бюрократическое функционирование Совета национальной безопасности (СНБ) в Вашингтоне, уволив несколько десятков младших чиновники. . Сообщается, что Вальс рассказал a Хранитель репортер в Эр-Рияде: “Если вы собираетесь объединить обе стороны, вам придется поговорить с обеими сторонами. И мы продолжим напоминать всем, буквально, через несколько минут после того, как президент Трамп повесил трубку с президентом Путиным, он позвонил [и] поговорил с президентом Зеленским. [США] продолжат отталкиваться от этой идеи, что с нашими союзниками не консультировались: они находятся и их ведут буквально почти ежедневно, и мы продолжим это делать.”
Рубио признал, что операция "Новичок", которую правительство Великобритании начало в марте 2018 года при поддержке Трампа в то время, теперь является проблемой, которую вскоре предстоит обсудить с премьер-министром Кейром Стармером.
“ВОПРОС:...если вы вернете статус к оперативному – нормальному оперативному уровню – сотрудников посольств – что вы считаете дело Скрипаля или аннексию Крыма закрытым или больше не выпускаете? Потому что я думаю, что –, о котором вы упомянули, Кир Стармер будет в Вашингтоне на следующей неделе. Могу себе представить, что британцев это не особенно порадует. СЕКРЕТАРЬ РУБИО: Да, опять же, это не так
– да, я не собираюсь вести переговоры или говорить о каждом элементе сбоев, которые существуют – или существовали в наших дипломатических отношениях и механике этого. Достаточно сказать, что президент Трамп пообещал и намерен сдержать свое обещание сделать все возможное, чтобы положить конец этому конфликту. Мы не сможем этого сделать, если у нас не будет хоть какой-то нормальности в работе наших дипломатических миссий в Москве и Вашингтоне, округ Колумбия. Итак, нам нужно работать над тем, чтобы это улучшить, и мы собираемся работать с ними, чтобы увидеть, что в этом возможно контекст. .”
Оставить ответ