[000:00:00;00] the, the very important commendation has been laid for dialogue, respectful, equal dialog, dialog based on mutual understanding. we clearly see this mindset that moment fully be hit 3 bucks, russia. i mean, he was told that was kind of a meeting in the is posted by saudi arabia, the 2 side spoken a wide range of issues, probably normally, station of biological ties to p. you crate. meanwhile, the us described with russia as a to take them not, not the table in riyadh, not him is the landscape, but i didn't stop him from travelling to all the countries in the region.

encouraging took here work goals previous peaceful. in 2020 so left out in the cold. a you a few europe in need of hold their own thoughts about simple for you, praying out a potential monitoring solutions to complex problems, say the possible to keep, keep the leaders of the great countries of europe missed the moment when they could have taken the initiative on the russian war and ukraine, e. u institutions are not capable of an initiative the most. okay. but bring it towards rhetoric one of the, well, this is on teams national as with thank you for choosing well starting himself positive and respectful donald. that was the immediate reaction to the historic talks between russia and the us from a high ranked number of most goes delegation sitting on the right side of that

table. you may have thought come on just off to the floor and hoff our meeting, wrapped up in the saudi capital to discuss the solutions. i believe the us is taking these negotiations very seriously and respectfully, a very important foundation has been laid for dialogue, respectful and equal dialog dialog based on mutual understanding. therefore, we clearly see this mindset. yes, there are undoubtedly many disagreements on that. yes. a lot of attempts have been made by the vitamin team to undermine communication and much missed information has been created. but the way to fix this job is to communicate to purchase a defined common ground, especially on the many issues where we can work together such as developing arctic projects and so on. keep. it's a very positive and thoughtful dialogue. but it's also clear that there are many disagreements, so you see it, so we must realistically acknowledge that we face a long road ahead in correcting the mistakes made by the biden administration.

while joining then, i'll all to contribute to tara read tara. i mean, obviously things are still coming in, so it's very difficult to make sense. but, you know, the preliminary kind of feedback is that it was positive as obvious, you know, alignment, but that's the willingness to listen. the 1st thing i do want to ask you though, these, what talks between the us and russia about restoring that ties. your brain was a tiny part of it because this is bigger than ukraine, isn't it? absolutely, i mean russia has more sanctions on it from the u. s. than any other country. now, donald trump has made it clear that those sanctions are going to be and some of them have been lifted against certain oligarchy. but i think in mass you're going to see a whole shift. so there were there was someone there in negotiating the economic sanctions. and we'll hear more about that. i think later as they kind of told what was what was there. but i think one of the other things was setting up the summit between donald trump and vladimir putin, the timeline. what that looks like now we heard donald trump,

he wants peace by easter. wouldn't it be interesting if donald trump has income victory day if you instance i because i think he was loosely invited by vladimir putin and we saw, you know, piece by then. but we'll see. but i think the goal was to have it quickly done. and if you talk to any kind of a trump uh, administration official, they'll tell you that when trump with something done, she wants it done quickly. but now, as far as the date meeting with lot of her opinion, it's up to president clinton. when to set that, i think donald trump was hoping for next week we'll see. well, i think images of donald trump standing by lemons, most of them on red square on the 9th of may, which is which lots of the kill a number of in, you know, to come up. i'm but you know, this is interesting cuz you put that obviously about the economic aspect. it was interesting that clearly that was a focus. we had a very experienced mind. crill,

demitra who has his own experience. obviously it's for him, it's the financial angle and business coming fact about american russian corporation, especially in oil. she was say, we had them talk about the architect. we heard them talking about setting up watching groups on different aspects. and for me, what was striking was thought they got to ukraine, but it wasn't at the very top. and i think that was quite symbolic in the sense of showing that the war and ukraine was nap or a pope necessary ukraine. it was without the why did to political not on, on what the world is going to look like, where the balance of power is going to know why? well, i think it and, and even a deeper question is about the new killer us as far as that goes to question tara, i'm so sorry to interrupt you, but we've just had them all to review with you a sec to state speaking that significant engagement is process to make sure that it's moving along in a productive way as well

. there are some to some underlying principles. this needs to be a permanent, into the war and not a temporary. and as we've seen in the past, we know just the practical reality is that there is going to be some discussion of territory. and there's going to be a discussion of security guarantees. those are just yet fundamental basics uh that will, that will undergird and underlie any type of discussion. but i think the, the most important part is the president has stated his desire, his determination to end this war to end of the killing. that is going on. the death and destruction that is happening is this war. uh, you know, goes on and on. uh, month after month after month in the killing fields of eastern and southern ukraine is unacceptable. it is not in the interest of either country is not in the interest

of the world and certainly not in the interest of the united states and europe. all right, so all of those things will drive the negotiations going forward. and as you can see, the president uh president trump is determined to move very quickly. we just had a head of state phone call the 1st in years. and here we are less than a week later, at the highest level of the us and russian government. and we expect to continue to drive that pace to, to not only in the war, but then to unlock what could be a very productive and stabilizing relationships. going forward. well i think those are things that are those, those are to be discussed and those are things that will start then do the tough work ahead. but the important thing is that we started that process and what the

president did not find acceptable was an english war in europe. and that was literally turning into has turned into a meat grinder of people on, on both sides. so that if you just think about just in a few months, 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 . and in the oval office, less than a week ago, both president put in and present zelinski boat said to him, only you, president trump could drive this war 2 in a conclusion against we're not going to pre negotiated or of an end to this conflict. these are the kinds of things that have to happen to hard and difficult diplomacy in close rooms over a period of time. what's important understand is 2 things. the 1st is the only leader in the world who can make this happen. so can even bring people together to begin to talk about it in a serious way as president trump. he's the only one in the world,

i can do that right now. the 2nd thing i would say is that in order for a conflict and everyone involved in that conflict has to be okay, which has to be, it has to be acceptable to them. but we have to understand that it's been 3 and a half years since there's been any sort of regularized contact between the united states and russia. and in some cases, between any of the participants in the con conflict and russia. so the goal of today's meeting was the follow up on the phone call the president had a week ago and begin to establish those lines of communication. the work remains today is the 1st step of a long and difficult journey, but an important one. and president trump is committed to bringing an end of this conflict. and as he said, when he campaign for president, and he wants it to be end of the way, that's fair, he wants it to end in a way that sustainable and enduring not that leads to another conflict in 2 to 3 years. that's not going to be easy to achieve, but he's the only one in the world that can begin that process. donald trump is the only leader in the world that could initiate that process. and today was the 1st

step in and in that process. or functions are all the result of this conflict. there are sanctions that were imposed as a result of this conflict. and so i would say to you that in order to bring an end to any conflict, there has to be concessions made by all sides. we're not going to pre determined what those are were given accidentally, not going to negotiate this today or in the press conference for that matter. but um and there are other parties that have sanctions. the european union is going to have to be at the table at some point because they have sanctions as well that have been imposed. so um, but i guess the point here is the goal is and we agreed on what the goal is. the goal is to bring an end of this conflict in a way that's fair and during sustainable and acceptable to all parties involved. what that looks like. well, that's what this,

what the ongoing engagement is going to be all about. well the comment i would have on that is that for 3 and a half years, while this conflict has raged for 3 years, while it's raged, no one else has been able to bring something together like what we saw today. because donald trump is the only way around the world can. so no one is being sidelined here. but president trump is in a position that he campaigned on to initiate a process that could bring about an end of this conflict. and from that could emerge some very positive things for the united states, for europe, for ukraine, for the world. but for us to begin to by the end of this conflict. and so the only thing president trump trying to do is bring about peace to what he campaigned on. it's something the world should be thinking president trump for doing. he was a but he's been able to achieve what for 32 and a half, 3 years, no one else has been able to see which, which is to bring to begin this process, a serious process. obviously a lot of work remains before we have a result of present trumps. the only one that can do it. i look it's, it's common sense. if you're going to bring both sides together,

you have to talk to both sides. and we'll continue to remind everyone, literally within minutes of president trump hanging up with president putin, he called and spoke with presents a wednesday. so. ready shuttle diplomacy has happen throughout history. it's happened all over the world. we are absolutely talking to both sides of the secretary of state, just met with present zalinski days ago, along with the vice president, 7 cabinet members in europe at the same time really showing the importance of, of engaging or allies present. trump spoke with president my crone just yesterday, prime minister storm, or is coming to washington next week. so i quote that the fax will continue to push back on this notion that our allies haven't been consulted. they're being and they, they are being consulted literally almost on

a daily basis and will continue to do so. we did not. we did not set that date, but the 2 presidents talked about meeting and expect to meet is positive, be constructive. everybody, they are the to get to the right outcome solution based we, we discussed it afterwards. we couldn't have imagined a better result after this after the session. it was very, very solid. i'm not sure but, but it will make that determination in the next couple of weeks. well, i think that's something that will continue to discuss. we have certainly,

again, as a 1st principle, i have a european lead security guarantee. we have the president, many of us as members of prior members of congress, ourselves, have called for the europeans to continue to contribute to our common defense, to continue to share the burden of nato defense. we'll continue to point out that while things have improved starting with president trump 1st term, the fact that a 3rd of our nato allies still do not contribute the minimum of 2 percent of their ttp defense a decade after that we all collectively made that agreement isn't acceptable, we have the nato summit coming up this june, and we would expect with the type of, of conflict, the type of warfare and destruction we've seen in europe. sadly, the last several years that we have a 100 percent, at the minimum and in fact are exceeding that so, you know, look, this is a, this is

a common effort. this isn't just about what the united states is going to continue to contribute. and what we are going to continue to ask of the american taxpayer, we all have to make those tough decisions. we all have to contribute to our common defense. and we expect that, that to this, to be a 2 way street for our european allies in the fact that both the united kingdom, france and others, are talking about contributing more forcefully to ukraine's security. we think is a good thing. i mean, i don't view diplomacy that way. i think diplomacy ultimately is based on and has actions based on commitments that are kept. so i think they came away today convinced that they are willing to begin to engage in a serious process to determine how and how quickly and through what mechanism can

be brought to this war. whether we can ultimately reach that outcome. well, obviously depend on every side and this conflicts willingness to, to agree to certain things. so i think it's important to have this meeting because we haven't really had much engagement with the russians for almost 3 years. and it's, that's the table for future conversations. how that turns out will be up to the parties and their willingness not just to make commitments but to live by them. uh, that will be tested in the weeks to come. but i can tell you again, as i reiterate, president trump has made it and he made it very clear during the campaign. he thought this cost was needed and he's the only leader in the world that could have started a process that we saw here today. and this process is going to continue, and when you talk about enduring and sustainable end of the conflict, it means ones that's acceptable to everyone involved in it. and that obviously includes ukraine, but also our partners in europe. and of course the russian side as well. so i didn't mean to, to, to jump in there, but i just wanted to also take a moment i take on behalf of all of us and the president to think our partners in

saudi arabia to think our host for bringing this together. and particularly the crown prince mohammed been solomon and his team. we are moving quickly, which means they moved very quickly to, to be such grace, gracious host and, and we certainly are all appreciative options. well, that's a decision for the king them to make. but i can tell you that the teen them saudi arabia is playing an indispensable role in making today possible. not just posting us, but bringing the parties together to have these conversations. i think it's something we're very grateful for something we are very grateful for the partnership that we have with them on a host of issues. and this being one of them we're, we're, we thank them for doing it and um, and we hope that they will, i think they've offered. and i believe that they will continue to be helpful in any way they can of the

next the next truck, the 1st, the 1st, the next step is working through our respective teams at the diplomatic side, just to ensure that our diplomatic missions can function there has been a series of reciprocal actions taken over the last 10 years that have really diminished our ability to operate in moscow as an example. and they would argue their ability to operate in washington. we're going to need to have fiber and diplomatic missions that are able to function normally in order to be able to continue these conduits. the 2nd is a high level team, including those we're experts on these topics. so the technical side to begin to engage with their side on parameters of what an end of this conflict would look like. and on that front, obviously there is going to be engagement and consultation with ukraine with our partners in europe and others. but ultimately they're, the russian side will be in dispensable to this effort and ok, so that process will begin. and then the 3rd is together with those other 2 is

beginning to engage in identifying the extraordinary opportunities that exist. should this conflict come to a acceptable and the trouble opportunities that exist to partner with the russians, geo, politically on issues of common interest. and frankly, economically on issues that hopefully will be good for the world and will also improve our relations in the long term between these 2 important countries. so all 3 of those efforts will be happening in conjunction with one another. obviously the diplomatic one is when we think we hope to move pretty quickly on because this involves the treatment of our respective missions. the 2nd one will be difficult, which is the question of ukraine and the end of that conflict. but i think that's essential in order for the 3rd piece to even be possible, which is our ability to work together on other geo political matters of common interest. and of course, some pretty unique potential lead historic economic partnerships as well. the key that unlocks the door for those opportunities, however, is the end to this concept. in terms of like when, when does

a high level ending date? there's no dates separate as a week. uh, president trump is uh, as you've seen over the last 4 weeks. not a patient in terms of getting action drives to drive. hardy wants to get things done. he's been wanting to do this and he's moving very quickly to fulfill the promises he made to the american people. and they elected him as our president. and then in terms of number one, restoration of commissions, you'll remember 1st the tit for tat was after the st. paul poison. the us under one of your predecessors chosen, expelled a lot of russian diplomats to which they responded. the end of the consulate in st . petersburg, close to that, closed down with the russians. you guys close down the consulate in seattle and several others. are those gonna reopen? are the for that's how we're going to be talking about. and then ultimately, you know, again,

i'm not going to negotiate or just work on that in public that that's what these channels will be about. but ultimately what the goal we need to have is we have to have some normalcy in our missions, in our, in their ability to function. and then in the, in the main embassy and then the main as the main, i'm thinking of that regardless of the console. i mean of our, if the, if our diplomatic channels are broken, it's going to be very difficult to consistently engage on a host of topics, including some unrelated irritants that could be rail, the broader talks on ukraine. so there has to be some improvement in the way our emissions are able to work in, in the environment and space that they're given to operate. and so that's something we want to move on quickly and it's important to set the table for the other 2 things that we want to do. but i think the key really, and all of this is ultimately going to be whether an agreement can be reached with all parties involved on or acceptable resolution to the conflict in ukraine. because of that happens, not only will the world be a better place,

but i think though it's free, some pretty unique opportunities to, to work with them on areas of the bi lateral geo political interest and some very unique economic opportunities. but we have to get the ukraine situation resolved 1st in a way that's acceptable to everyone as well. so, but does that mean? if you get the stats back to original, what the normal operational level and stuff, the embassies that you consider this people case of the crimea annexation to be be closed. they're no longer issues because i think, you know, peer mentions or cues. farmers going to be in washington next week. i can't imagine that the brits will be particularly yeah, i'm not, i'm not. yeah, i'm not gonna negotiate that or to talk through every element of the disruptions that exist or have existed in our diplomatic relations and the mechanics of it. suffice it to say that president trump has pledged and attempts to keep his promise to do everything he can to bring an end of this conflict. we cannot do that unless

we have at least some normalcy in the way. our diplomatic missions operate in moscow and in washington dc. and so we need to work to improve that. and we're going to work with them to see what's possible within that context of living. removing from where we're sending sanctions that are inputs had been opposed to. we're just not at that level of conversation yet, but sorry, that's they'll be a number of topics that will have to be discussed along the way they haven't. we have that we haven't even begun that process today was just an agreement to begin a process to talk about those things. while that we have the us tech show state flanked on his left by the national security advisor mike waltz and on his right was a special envoy. in the case, steve whit calls just quickly through joining us to run through the tools and re out between the russian. i'm us side they last around 4 and a half hours. they will be every step and the degree a palace which belongs to the saudi royal family of our names, to me. uh the us to the case. and they said thank you very much for graciously

hosting us. we have moved incredibly false to seemed to be able to do that. we're obviously very appreciative. we also do, you know, the russians for administer stuck a lot of met with the saudi crown prince. and i haven't been solomon off to computing those tools in riyadh. ukraine was the predominant topic that was off by the journalists. and that it seems very categorical, but we all going to make way for the people ready agreed that we need to a point to top level teams from both sides in order to meet writing the i'm be able to discuss it, the lines of communication very, pretty irrevocably opened, that's a clear message that we're getting from both washington the most co now and they said the war does need to end, but it cannot be a temporary cease what it needs to be known. last thing, the issue of territory did come up in territorial concessions mall could repair, trying to be a bit shy best, and we're not going to discuss it here with you at a press conference with not into that level of detail yet. i will just remind you of a few as that um, fussing independence. yeah. the russian ambassador to the un yesterday speaking the

security council chain, but in new york, said, ukraine can forget about as a guessing back any territory. something floated in the referendum in the autumn of 2022. so we're talking about the dumbass, the tongue yet guns, supper, osha and haas on. and then we had from the us defense secretary and that was double down by trump decided return to pre 2014 voters. i cried. man, it's just not going to happen. um, on the one on, on the whole we're hearing from both sides that it was very positive. in fact what that was used by mike, what's the uh, that rate, solid positive, upbeat constructive. it definitely seemed but on the crane issue, things are moving. and also just and this is very important by latrell, this is about the us and russia, normalizing ties that have been abnormal. so many years. they said that they all going to walk on restoring embassy, starting off to of course he has to,

the top expels sanctions. so get to that. but again, it seemed that everything is on the table and moving forward, they want to move quickly to wash. and so i just had trump team a problem solvers. so on the whole, i would say that there's 4 and a half hours in riyadh seem to be a historic moment. almost the start of a breakthrough, at least in biological ties between 2 of the world's most important to political plants to well, i do want to return to the stage here now because i'm sure we've all had an off of re tool tail. what's got tars take on the want of this 1st impressions? what do you think of the kind of defined the energy coming out from those 3 months? they seemed very determined with their mission, which is to move quickly towards getting to a normalization. as you were discussing of relations and, and 5 that we mean, i mean, bear in mind and there's been no communication during the,

by immersion. like not even between president biden and president putin and we came close to world war 3. we were on the brink of new killer war, when donald trump came in, i mean, we, i've been here a talking about this a couple of months ago. so this is huge, that we're sitting at a table surrogate law for of a sitting there with marker rubio. they're talking about a long lasting piece, not just a ceasefire. they're talking about economic cooperation in the future. that's huge . and i think we're going in a very different direction. donald trump made it very clear. as he ran, he ran on this. he ran that he would end aid to the he would end of the proxy war and a to crane. there'll be no boots on the ground and that you know, neither what was going to have to pull back. now just yesterday you heard the british prime minister talking about how he right. he wanted to talk about boots on the ground. but the reality is english, people don't have the stomach for that. they're not interested in that. and it's already, it's lost, it's

a done deal. we're moving towards peace. and we'll drag europe with us if we have to is kind of what the us messages. and i think they're coming to meet with trump soon. so i mean, interesting, just to add to what you said about u. k. troops on the ground. i was also reading a comment from the head of the post and national security saw this. and he said this idea of sending a 100000 piece campus. he said, we don't have those numbers. he said, germany at best. he said, could russell up one baton yet. and so even that would be a stress. so that definitely does seem to be a huge risk, right. and in realism, when it comes to the rhetoric that we're hearing from the europeans, and then what we're hearing from rubio and the trump team, you know, also what was striking to meet you. we've heard of course, so much hostile rhetoric coming out from the white house onto the bite and administration. let's not get that famous moment when he said to i think the pollutants, a killer. yes i do. when he said there was no good reason for me to took to peer to

now, i mean, such a change and dynamic in the front office. and i want to get your take on why you think it is. do you think it's down to trump and his being a business man and wanting to get the deal done? is it down to the fact that the us also understands that we've reached the end of the road here with you quite we what we call when? so let's try and kind of roll it back, get what we can make it seem positive and also try and shape the world. now, at least according to sometimes we can get on board with all of that and more because donald trump is always had a respect for vladimir putin. and he's made that very clear publicly and took a lot of heat for saying that in public. but he didn't care, he stood by that and said, look, this is a reasonable leader who does well by his nation. vitamin was basically operating a money laundering. let's face it, it was a money laundering operation that's enriched individual, a lead predator, class politicians,

and weapons manufacturers. it's over and it's done now and we've moved on donald trump has a very different view. he wants economic cooperation and competition, i'm sure, as well. he enjoys that. so, but to get to that, there's a lot of steps in between. you talking about the minerals, for instance, and ukraine. he was asking, we're back. well, russia owns 22 percent of those minerals and ukraine now. so that's going to be, have to be negotiated. what does that mean? does that mean the us let's go of that. that demand zalinski, of course, is trying every thing because he's desperate. i think that you're going to see in the next few weeks, they're going to head towards a legitimate election and ukraine. he will not win. and i'm wondering what his fate will be if he's gonna have to run and hide novilla somewhere. but we'll see. but i think the next step will be, of course,