section_path: United States–Russia talks
section_name: United States–Russia talks
paragraph_text: United States–Russia talks
  
  The call and summit represented a major shift in United States foreign policy towards Russia, as Trump criticised Ukrainian peace negotiation in the war, saying he was "very disappointed " and that Ukraine has "been there for three years. should have ended it three years – you should have never started it. You could have made a deal". Trump later said that Russia did invade, but that the United States shouldn't have let Russia attack. The summit was held in Diriyah Palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov led the American and Russian delegations, respectively. On the American side, Marco Rubio, Steve Witkoff, and Mike Waltz represented the United States at the summit while Sergey Lavrov and Yuri Ushakov represented Russia. The day before, several European officials met in Paris to discuss the war in Ukraine and the recent American reversal in foreign policy, including proposing to send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine. However, Sergey Lavrov rejected any NATO peacekeeping force in Ukraine during the summit, saying "the expansion of NATO, the absorption of Ukraine by the North Atlantic alliance, is a direct threat to the interests of the Russian Federation." Russia and the United States also agreed to restore staffing at each other's embassies.
  
  The summit laid the groundwork for a future meeting between Putin and Trump, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov saying the meeting could take place before the end of February, though this did not end up happening. Marco Rubio said a potential meeting between Trump and Putin would "largely depend on whether we can make progress on ending the war in Ukraine."