Saudi Arabia Supports Trump-Putin Summit in Riyadh
The Saudi Foreign Ministry has announced its support for a summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to be held in Riyadh. This comes after Trump’s separate calls with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Trump called Putin on February 12, suggesting that the two leaders could meet in Saudi Arabia as part of efforts to negotiate an end to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Kingdom expressed its welcome to hosting the summit and reaffirmed its ongoing efforts to achieve lasting peace between Russia and Ukraine.
Saudi Arabia has a history of playing a key role in negotiating prisoner exchanges with Russia, and hosted an international summit on a peace formula in August 2023. The country has maintained close economic ties with Moscow since the beginning of the war in Ukraine.
The extent of Ukraine’s involvement in the US-Russia talks is unclear. President Volodymyr Zelensky said he plans to visit Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates to discuss other topics such as children kidnapped by Russia. Zelensky and Trump agreed to begin working toward ending the war.
Ukraine’s president also stated that he was ready to meet with Putin only after there is a joint plan with Trump and the EU. Kyiv insists that no talks about Ukraine and ending of Russia’s all-out war should be held without Ukraine.
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