Waltz Reveals Topics Of US-Russia Meeting As It Kicks Off In Riyadh

Trump’s national security adviser Mike Walz has previewed what will be a main topic of discussion for Monday’s next round of talks with Russia in Saudi Arabia. At this point the talks between the US and Ukrainian delegations have concluded (as of Sunday night), and up next is the separate meeting with the Russians, which has begun Monday.

„We’re moving closer and we’re closer to peace than we ever have been,” Walz told CBS’ Face the Nation. „And now we have technical teams, actually, with Ukrainians and Russians at the same facility, conducting proximity talks.”

That’s when he revealed a major new focus of negotiations for the Monday talks. „We now going to talk about a Black Sea maritime ceasefire so that both sides can move grain fuel and start conducting trade again in the Black Sea,” Walz described.

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Reaching a lasting ceasefire deal would allow both warring countries to „move grain, fuel, and start conducting trade” in the sea again, he said.

Also high on the agenda will be discussions of the front line, the issue of territories, and the achievement and maintenance of sustainable peace. „We’ll talk the line of control… details of verification mechanisms, peace keeping, you know, freezing the lines where they are,” Walz noted.

The issue of „broader and permanent peace” and „security guarantees” are also on the table as the diplomatic engagements proceed.

As the talks in Riyadh have reportedly begun Monday, the Russian ruble has continued to strengthen on to the expectation of a peace deal, by 09:30 GMT gaining over 1% against the US dollar in the over-the-counter market.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has condemned the continued aerial attacks on Ukraine. Overnight Ukraine’s military says it shot down nearly 60 inbound Russian drones. Both sides say they’ve agreed to a US-brokered pause on attacks against energy infrastructure – both other attacks have persisted.

Zelensky called on allies put more pressure on Russia „to stop this terror”. He said in a fresh televised statement that „since March 11, a proposal for an unconditional ceasefire has been on the table, and these attacks could have already stopped. But it is Russia that continues all this.”

KSA, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

„Our team is working in a fully constructive manner, and the discussion is quite useful. The work of the delegations continues,” Zelensky said in reference to the Sunday Riyadh meeting with the US delegation.

„But no matter what we’re discussing with our partners right now, Putin must be pushed to issue a real order to stop the strikes, because the one who brought this war must be the one to take it back,” he added.

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Al Jazeera has the following brief backgrounder on the national security officials leading the Russian delegation for Monday’s meeting with the US in Riyadh:

Sergei Beseda

The 70-year-old is an adviser to FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov.

From 2009 to last year, he was heading the FSB’s 5th service, which runs agents in former Soviet countries. Some experts believe he was closely involved in intelligence preparations for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

According to Reuters, Beseda’s position appeared precarious after Ukraine fought back much more strongly than expected and Russia’s initial assault on Kyiv was beaten back, but he remained in his post.

Ex-US Ambassador John Sullivan wrote in his memoir that Beseda also took part in negotiations with the US in 2021 on exchanging prisoners held in each other’s prisons.

Grigory Karasin

The 75-year-old is a former long-serving diplomat whose past posts include deputy foreign minister and ambassador to the UK.

He is now a member of the Federation Council, the upper house of Russia’s parliament, and chairs its international affairs committee.
Both he and Beseda have been placed under Western sanctions.

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Below are more developing Monday geopolitical headlines via Newsquawk:

Middle East

• „Israeli Channel 12 on government sources: The military operation will be expanded and what we have done so far has not pushed Hamas to any understandings towards reaching a deal”, according to Al Jazeera.
• AP said Egypt has put forward a new proposal to try to put the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas back on track.
• „There are positive indications about a new Egyptian proposal in the negotiations, but the gaps are still large”, according to Israel’s N12.
• Israeli PM Netanyahu spoke with US Secretary of State Rubio and discussed regional developments including the release of hostages and resumption of fighting in Gaza.
• Israel’s military said a projectile was launched from Yemen towards Israel which was intercepted and it conducted strikes on Rafah and Khan Younis, while Israel’s military also said the division that operated in Lebanon is preparing for Gaza activity.
• Israel conducted an air strike which killed Hamas political leader Salah Al-Bardaweel in the southern Gaza Strip and targeted the surgery department at Gaza’s Nasser Hospital which killed Hamas political bureau member Ismail Baarhoum.
• US peacekeepers said an escalation of the volatile situation at the Lebanon-Israel border could have serious consequences for the region, while it was reported that Israeli PM Netanyahu ordered strikes against dozens of targets in Lebanon in response to rocket fire although Hezbollah denied any link to rocket launches from southern Lebanon on Saturday.
• White House National Security Adviser Waltz said the US took out key Houthi leadership during strikes in Yemen, as well as weapons factories and some drone facilities, while he added that the US is seeking full dismantlement of the Iranian nuclear program in a way the entire world can see.
• US envoy Witkoff said Hamas is the aggressor here and had every opportunity to demilitarise and accept the bridging proposal but they elected not to. Witkoff also stated that their signal to Iran is let’s sit down and see if we can get to the right place through diplomacy, while he added that Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb which cannot and will not happen.
• Iran’s Foreign Minister Araqchi said talks with the US are impossible unless Washington changes its pressure policy.
• Iranian Foreign Ministry warned of the repercussions of the new Israeli escalation against Lebanon, according to Sky News Arabia.

Ukraine

• Negotiations between the delegations of the Russian Federation and the US last about two hours; „the parties do not plan to complete the meeting in the near future”, according to TASS.
• Russia’s Kremlin said Saudi Arabia negotiations are underway on technical issues, there are many different aspects related to a settlement in Ukraine that need to be worked out. The Black Sea initiative is on the agenda in these talks. There is a common understanding with the US on the willingness to move towards a settlement
• Russia’s Defence Ministry says Ukraine attempted to attack an oil pumping station in Russia’s Krasnodar region, according to IFAX; the station is out of operation for repairs.
• Russia’s Kremlin, on energy strike moratorium, said they are monitoring the situation after attacks by Ukraine.
• Ukraine and US delegations began talks in Saudi Arabia, while Ukrainian President Zelensky said the Ukrainian delegation is working in a completely constructive way and the conversation is quite useful. There were also comments from the Ukrainian Defence Minister that the agenda for talks included proposals to protect energy facilities and critical infrastructure.
• White House National Security Adviser Waltz said the US is talking through a number of confidence-building measures to end the Russia-Ukraine war including the future of Ukrainian children taken into Russia.
• US envoy Witkoff said the US expects a lot more progress on the Russia-Ukraine conflict and that Russian President Putin does not want to take all of Europe with the situation much more different than WW2.
• White House is aiming for a Russia-Ukraine truce agreement by April 20th, according to Bloomberg.
• Russia’s Kremlin said the Putin-Trump call was a step towards a face-to-face meeting and talks in Saudi Arabia will be as well. It was also reported that the Russian Defence Ministry said Russian forces took control of Sribne in eastern Ukraine, according to IFAX.

Other

• South Korea’s Foreign Minister said sanctions against North Korea must be carried out faithfully and that North Korea should not be rewarded for its wrongdoing in the course of the war in Ukraine.
• Venezuela’s government said it will resume repatriation flights of migrants from the US beginning on March 23rd.