MOSCOW — The Kremlin said on Tuesday that it was Ukraine’s sovereign right to decide whether it wanted to join the European Union, and that Moscow did not intend to dictate to Kyiv how it should approach the question.
Asked if Ukraine could one day join the European Union, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “This is the sovereign right of any country.”
“We are talking about integration and economic integration processes. And here, of course, no one can dictate anything to any country, and we are not going to do that,” he said.
Peskov added, however, that Russia’s position was different when it came to Ukraine joining military alliances.
“There is a completely different position, of course, on security-related issues related to defence or military alliances,” he said, without specifically mentioning NATO.
The comments came as US and Russian officials began meeting on Tuesday in Riyadh for the highest-level talks to date between the two former Cold War foes.
They were expected to discuss ways to end the three-year-old conflict in Ukraine and restore American-Russian relations. Their talks could pave the way for a summit between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Ukraine, which is not attending, says no peace deal can be made on its behalf. “We, as a sovereign country, simply will not be able to accept any agreements without us,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week.
Europe seeks a role
European governments, alarmed at the possibility that Russia and the United States could sideline them from negotiations that will determine the future security of the continent, have also demanded a role in peace talks.
Media were allowed to film the two delegations before the start of the talks.
Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov sat opposite US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, national security adviser Mike Waltz and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff at a polished wooden table with three large white floral arrangements.
The officials ignored shouted questions from reporters asking whether the US was sidelining the Ukrainians and what concessions Washington was demanding of Moscow.
Russia said the talks would focus on ending the war and restoring “the whole complex” of Russia-US ties, which the Kremlin described as “below zero” under the previous administration of Joe Biden.
Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, told reporters in Riyadh: “We really see that President Trump and his team is a team of problem solvers, people who have already addressed a number of big challenges very swiftly, very efficiently and very successfully.”
Dmitriev, a US-educated former Goldman Sachs banker, played a role in early contacts with Moscow during Trump’s first term as president from 2016 to 2020.
“It’s very important to understand that US businesses lost around $300 billion from leaving Russia. So there is huge economic toll on many countries from, you know, what’s happening right now,” he said.
US officials cast Tuesday’s talks as an initial contact to determine whether Moscow is serious about ending the war, after Putin and Trump spoke last Wednesday.
“This is a follow-up on that initial conversation between Putin and President Trump about perhaps if that first step is even possible, what the interests are, if this can be managed,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters in Riyadh.
Russia said Lavrov and Rubio in a call on Saturday discussed removing barriers to trade and investment.
It remains unclear how Europe will engage Washington after Trump stunned Ukraine and European allies by calling Putin, long ostracised by the West.
Keith Kellogg, Trump’s Ukraine envoy, said he would visit Ukraine from Wednesday and was asked if the US would provide a security guarantee for any European peacekeepers.
“I’ve been with President Trump, and the policy has always been: You take no options off the table,” he said.
