US-Russia talks: How pleased is Putin?
Ukrainecast
BBC
4.7 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 18 February 2025
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The US and Russia have been holding high-level talks in Saudi Arabia for the first time in years.
General Sir Richard Shirreff, a former Nato commander, is in the studio to give his reaction.
And Steve Rosenberg, BBC Russia editor, joins us to explain why the Kremlin is “cockahoop” about the news.
Today’s episode, recorded on Tuesday afternoon, is presented by Victoria Derbyshire and Vitaly Shevchenko. The producers were Ben Carter, Julia Webster, Ryan Johnston and Stuart Denman. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The series producer is Tim Walklate. The assistant editor is Ben Mundy. Email Ukrainecast@bbc.co.uk with your questions and comments. You can also send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram to +44 330 1239480
You can join the Ukrainecast discussion on Newscast’s Discord server here: tinyurl.com/ukrainecastdiscord
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, it's 10091 days since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. |
| 0:10.2 | In the last few hours, the US and Russia have finished those talks in Saudi Arabia. |
| 0:15.2 | The first such talks in years. |
| 0:18.0 | This was an absolutely huge moment. |
| 0:20.3 | There was a really symbolic photograph, |
| 0:22.1 | Vitaly. Talk us through that. Well, they sat at the table, very long table. That's when it was |
| 0:27.9 | shown to the media before the talk started. After they finished, after four and a half hours, |
| 0:32.6 | both the Americans and the Russians were really happy. The gist of what they agreed on is to keep talking. |
| 0:41.0 | They agreed to appoint key negotiators for Ukraine, |
| 0:45.0 | and they agree that these negotiators will meet, and I quote, in due course. |
| 0:50.5 | And around that table, if you think since February the 24th, 2022, President Putin and Moscow have been international pariahs, three years on, with the war still raging, there is Russia's Foreign Affairs Minister sitting opposite America's top diplomat. |
| 1:09.1 | And he's still sanctioned by America for getting involved in starting this war |
| 1:14.5 | that described the talks as constructive and generally the mood music was really, really positive. |
| 1:21.9 | And here is, the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio afterwards. |
| 1:24.9 | President Trump is in a position that he campaigned on to initiate a process |
| 1:28.4 | that could bring about an end of this conflict. And from that could emerge some very positive |
| 1:32.5 | things for the United States, for Europe, for Ukraine, for the world. But first it begins by the |
| 1:37.3 | end of this conflict. And so the only thing President Trump's trying to do is bring about peace. |
| 1:41.3 | It's what he campaigned on. It's something the world should be thanking President Trump for doing. Obviously, a lot of work remains before we have a result. But President |
| 1:48.5 | Trump's the only one that can do it. In this episode, we're going to assess the significance of this |
| 1:52.7 | meeting and work out what could happen next with our Russia editor, Steve Rosenberg. |
| 1:58.4 | This is Ukraine cast. Ukraine cast from BBC News. |
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