Riyadh:
The best diplomats in the United States and Russia go their way to Saudi Aarabia to hold important conversations about the war in Ukraine. The movement of Trump to choose Riyad as the location for organizing breakthrough in the US and Russia, underlines the return of the kingdom to the diplomatic fold of the near Pariah State, it went under the administration of former President Joe Biden.
This will be the first meeting at a high level between Washington and Moscow, because US President Donald Trump took place, in which the top of the US and Russian diplomats will try to redesign the broken relationships of their countries and make a provisional start in trying end the Ukrainian war. They will also prepare for a top between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
Both parties played the chances of discussions that resulted in a breakthrough. Nevertheless, the fact that the conversations took place has caused the concern in Ukraine and Europe after the recent overtures of the United States opposite the Kremlin.
Saudi's rise of shadows
The shadow that was thrown over Saudi and his de facto leader, crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, after the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 seems to be lifted in Turkey, although there are still concerns about the human rights rights record of the country.
A historical ally of the United States, Saudi -Arabia has avoided to choose party in the Ukraine war. The world's leading exporter of crude oil maintains close relations with Russia about energy policy and promises hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
The Kingdom has improved its role diplomatically and during the BIDen era it turned away on the dependence on the US as his most important international ally by beating closer ties with the rivals of America such as Russia and China. The Saudis have made it clear that they would follow what they consider their interests in the first place as their interests, a step that is more conducive to the transactional nature of the foreign policy of Mr Trump.
Mr. Trump's first foreign visit in his first term was to Saudi Aarabia, and the Kingdom welcomed his return to the White House.
One of the possible reasons for Mr Trump to keep Riyad can be a smooth highlight of the Abraham agreements that he initiated in his first term. War in Gaza, however, got the deal in the way and can increase the price that Saudi Arabia will demand well to a peace agreement with Israel.
'Great coup for Saudi'
“It is a major coup for Saudi. The two super powers come to Riyadh to arrange their disagreements,” said Ali Shihabi, an adviser to the Saudi government.
“It is quite prestigious and confirms the soft power of the kingdom,” he said AFP.
Riyad will then be hosted for an Arabian top to discuss the answer to Trump's proposal for an American takeover of Gaza and the forced relocation of his more than two million people.
Leaders of the six Member States of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will be present, just like those of Egypt and Jordan, who has driven Trump as possible destinations for the Palestinians.
Saudi Arabia's access is in the spotlight after the oil-rich Power saw its smaller neighbor Qatar mediating, a hard-fought yet fragile ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.
“Saudi Aarabia has benefited from the contradictions and the confrontation between the West and Russia in the Ukrainian crisis, in particular on the Oliewest al -Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo.
“This helped to remove it from the insulation imposed after the Khashoggi affair,” she said AFP.
Russia-US interviews
The meeting of the US and Russian officials comes after three years of an almost total freezing of relations between the two countries on the war in Ukraine. European leaders gathered in Paris on Monday to discuss their strategy, while the Ukrainian president VolodyMyr Zensky is expected in Turkey on Tuesday.
In Riyadh, State Secretary Marco Rubio, national security adviser Mike Waltz and special envoy for the Midden -East Steve Witkoff met Mohammed Bin Salman on Monday. The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Yuri Ushakov, Putin's diplomatic adviser, were sent to the Saudi capital to meet their American counterparts.
The meeting between the two teams “is extremely important from a Saudi perspective because it increases its status in world diplomacy and as a responsible global actor ready to contribute to global peace,” said Umer Karim, an expert in the field of foreign policy From Saudi.
“This meeting indicates that in particular Saudi leadership and Mohammed Bin Salman has developed a cordial and very personal relationship with both President Trump and Putin,” he said.
The Academic of the University of Birmingham said that the Saudi crown prince had much to win from the “diplomatic activity” in Riyad and “became a crucial actor” on the world stage.
