Top officials to meet next week to prepare Trump-Putin Summit

High civil servants from the US and Russia will meet in Saudi Aarabia next week to clear the way for a potential leader's top as soon as the end of the month to end the war in Ukraine, according to people who are familiar with the issue.

Details of the meeting and the list of attendees are still being worked out, but people who have informed the plans said that the group will probably include national security advisers. The goal is to enclose a date before the Holy Month Ramadan starts in March, a person said.

Most Europeans have not been informed so far, according to another officer who spoke on condition of anonymity. And although officials from Ukraine are expected, they also do not seem to be fully aware of the preparations.

“Ukraine will never accept deals behind our back without our involvement,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zenskiy on Saturday against the Security Conference of Munich. “And the same rule must apply to all over Europe.” The Zelenskiy office did not immediately respond to a question about the meeting.

US President Donald Trump himself indicated on Thursday that a top with Vladimir Putin was going on in Gulf Kingdom – and said that Ukrainians would be involved. The two also exchanged invitations in the course of a 90 -minute phone call in what the first contact between the leaders was since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

The National Security Council of the White House did not respond to a request for comments, nor a spokesperson for Kremlin.

Saudi authorities have invited us, Russian and Ukrainian representatives for the meeting in Riyad, people have informed the issue that refused to be identified because of the sensitivity of the meeting. Saudi national security adviser Musaed al-Aiban will convene the conversations, the person said, adding that plans can be discussed by last-minute changes.

Al-Aiban is a seasoned employee close to crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and represented him in negotiations with Iran and with Washington in conversations about a defense and strategic cooperation agreement and the prospect to normalize ties with Israel.

National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and Steve Witkoff, a special envoy, is expected to take the lead in the negotiations in Saudi Arabia, people said. That raises the question of what role special representative Keith Kellogg will play.

Putin assembles a team of heavyweights with decades of experience in negotiations with high efforts. They include Yuri Ushakov, his chief advisor of the foreign policy of Kremlin who has five decades involving diplomacy, and his TopSpymaster, Sergei NaryShkin, who served with Putin in the Soviet-KGB, according to people who are familiar with the situation. Kirill Dmitriev, a financier who has been trained at Stanford and Harvard with ties with the Russian president's own family, can play a key role as an unofficial back channel with Trump's negotiators, the people said.

The contact level was intensified in the past week, especially after the exciting speech of the American vice-president JD Vance in the Munich Security Council that surprised the European attendees, with a personal decrease in their “fundamental values” and vulnerable democracies.

The Kingdom has promoted close relations with the US, Russia and Ukraine. It is seen as a neutral location for possible peace talks.

With the help of Daryna Krasnolutska, Jenny Leonard, Sam Dagher and Kate Sullivan.

This article was generated from an automated feed from the news agency without changes in text.