Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and presidential aide Yury Ushakov arrive in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 17 February 2025. Photo: EPA-EFE/RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY PRESS SERVICE

Secret back channel negotiations between Russia and the United States have been held in Switzerland in recent months to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing three sources with knowledge of the matter.

Though sources declined to identify the participants, Reuters reported that they all had diplomatic experience and backgrounds in the security sector, but were not directly employed by either state.

Whether or not Ukraine was invited to the talks and what was discussed in the meetings has not been disclosed, though one source described the meetings as Track II diplomacy, the practice of non-state actors engaging in informal conflict resolution discussions.

According to Reuters, the parties met prior to US President Donald Trump taking office on 20 January, while two of the sources said that at least one meeting took place in Switzerland last weekend, as world leaders gathered for the Munich Security Conference, where Trump had suggested that delegations from Russia, Ukraine and the United States would meet, though no such meeting ultimately took place.

On Tuesday, high-level US and Russian delegations met in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, a possible meeting between Trump and Vladimir Putin, and agreeing to raise staffing levels at their respective embassies.

In his first month since taking office, Trump has radically altered the US approach to the war in Ukraine, engaging directly with Vladimir Putin without consulting either his European allies or Kyiv, and pushing for a quick deal to end the war. At the same time, relations between Kyiv and Washington have soured as the personal enmity between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has grown.