Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other top U.S. officials travelled to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Monday ahead of a Tuesday meeting with Russian diplomats, including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. 

The talks are expected to lay the groundwork for a meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the talks between Rubio and Lavrov “will focus primarily on restoring the entire complex of Russian-American relations.” He added that they will also cover preparations for possible negotiations to resolve the war in Ukraine.

Trump and Putin spoke by phone last week and discussed Ukraine and other topics. Trump called the conversation “lengthy and highly productive” and the Kremlin said it lasted nearly 90 minutes. The Washington Post reported that the call broke “a years-long silence between the Oval Office and the Kremlin.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that he “will never accept” any peace deal that Washington and Moscow struck without Kiev’s participation. 

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