U.S., Russia Talks in Saudi Arabia Set to Go Beyond Ukraine

Senior American and Russian officials were set to meet in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for the most extensive negotiations between the two countries in at least three years, as President Trump pushes to end the war in Ukraine and the Kremlin seeks warmer ties with Washington.After arriving in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, Russian officials said they would seek “normalization” with the United States, even holding out the possibility that major American oil companies could return to Russia.Ukraine and Europe were watching from a distance with deep apprehension, amid fears that Mr.

Trump could try to force a peace deal on Ukraine that would be favorable to Russia.The meeting comes less than a week after Mr.Trump’s lengthy phone call with President Vladimir V.

Putin of Russia.Mr.

Trump said afterward that the two leaders spoke of “the great benefit” that the United States and Russia “will someday have in working together,” and that the two leaders had agreed to “start negotiations immediately” to end the war in Ukraine.The U.S.delegation in Riyadh is led by Marco Rubio, the secretary of state; Michael Waltz, the national security adviser; and Steve Witkoff, Mr.

Trump’s Middle East envoy and a longtime friend of the president.They were expected to meet Tuesday with Russian officials including Sergey V.

Lavrov, the foreign minister; Yuri Ushakov, Mr.Putin’s foreign policy adviser; and Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund.Mr.

Ushakov told reporters after landing in Riyadh that the goal of the talks would be “to start a real normalization of the relationship between us and Washington.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Wa...