Shorouk Express
The negotiations, which sidelined Ukraine and Europe, have sparked angst and urgency in key European capitals as U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin look set to decide on Ukraine’s future without substantial input from Kyiv or its Western allies.
For his part, Trump aims to expand American influence in the Arctic, having repeatedly mused about acquiring Greenland from Denmark — and has refused to rule out using military force or economic coercion to seize control of the massive island with its vast mineral wealth and key strategic location.
U.S. oil major ExxonMobil had partnered with Russian state oil major Rosneft to explore for hydrocarbons in the high Arctic, but pulled out in 2018 following the imposition of Western sanctions in response to Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine in 2014.
Dmitriev was part of a Russian delegation that included Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov and was in Saudi Arabia for initial discissions on Ukraine. Tuesday’s talks were the first contact between officials from the two sides following a call between Trump and Putin last week.
He commented on the economic track of the talks, which he described as good, but declined to go into detail on the political discussions. Secretary of State Marco Rubio led the U.S. delegation, accompanied by National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
“Positive after the Biden administration destroyed all of the communication, destroyed all of the discussion,” he said.
