Trump relies on close relationships with the Saudi prince for UkraineDeal

Trump relies on close relationships with the Saudi prince for UkraineDeal

While President Donald Trump drives his attempt to end the war in Ukraine, he uses an old ally: the mighty Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. The success of the prince in the mediation of a peace agreement could further deepen the already close relationships with the new American president.

Saudi Arabia as a diplomatic actor

Prince bin Salman and his diplomats are not only responsible for the provision of their desert kingdom as an event location for discussions, but could also play a central role in the negotiation of a peace agreement. According to informed sources, Saudi Arabia strives to establish itself as an influential international actor.

Trump is interested in a quick solution to the conflict and sees Riad as his best partner. Should the meeting be successful on Tuesday between high-ranking representatives of the Trump administration and its Russian colleagues, the organization of a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin could progress quickly and possibly lead to a summit in Saudi Arabia within the next month.

expectations of the upcoming summit

"It will happen soon, we will see what happens," said Trump on Sunday. "That should have happened three or four years ago before (the war) started. But it should have done immediately after the conflict began instead of now." Historically speaking, US Russian summits in Europe are often associated with various diplomatism, but such a top-class meeting in Riad would be without example.

Although several countries, including Serbia and Switzerland, offered to host the Trump Putin summit, Russian officials had regarded a meeting in Europe as possibly partisan in favor of Ukraine, in view of the widespread conviction of the Russian invasion by most European countries.

The role of Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, behaved neutrally without criticizing Moscow or following western sanctions. In addition, Saudi Arabia is not a member of the International Criminal Court who issued an arrest warrant against Putin, which means that the Russian guide can travel there for talks without having to fear an arrest.

President and Crown Prince: A strong alliance

Prince bin Salman, the factual leader of the kingdom, has established close relationships with Trump. This was shown last month when he was the first state leader to contact Trump by phone after his inauguration.

"We are happy to work with you and President Trump," said the prince on Monday before a meeting with US Foreign Minister Marco Rubio, who will take part in the talks with the Russians in Ritz-Carlton-Hotel in Riad together with the National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and the Middle East Sonstairs.

"We can work on positive things for Saudi Arabia and the USA and for many countries around the world," added the prince. Should Trump actually travel to Saudi Arabia in the coming weeks, he would be the first American president to make Saudi Arabia the scene of his first two trips abroad in both terms of office, a significant departure from the traditional visits to neighboring countries such as Mexico or Canada.

Trump and the Saudi vision

Eight years ago Trump enjoyed the splendor of his reception at King Khalid Airport in Riad. This time, by preferring Riyadh from a western capital, Trump emphasizes that he intends to strengthen the Arab state from his isolation after the murder of journalists Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 - even while he is trying to marginalize European allies who have a much greater interest in the outcome of the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.

friendship with Putin

Prince Bin Salman is one of the few powerful world leaders who have maintained close relationships with Putin since the invasion of Ukraine. The two parts of autocratic features, including brutal suppression of dissent. "We know the crown prince and I think it would be a very good place to be," said Trump recently in the Oval Office.

When he wants to strengthen his position as an influential international actor, the prince identified the Ukraine crisis as a possible opportunity. In 2023 he organized a peace summit in Jeddah and met individually with Putin and the Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj.

The geopolitical implications

the conversations between Trump and Putin in Riad came about if it were the sixth meeting of the two and the second significant summit. Her meeting in Helsinki 2018, in which Trump stood on the side of Putin, instead of following the assessment of the US intelligence services for the election influence, remains one of the most extraordinary events in the long history of US Russian relations.

For Putin, a meeting with Trump would mean a continuation of a relationship with an American president more than three decades. In his positive view of Putin, Trump stands out from Clinton to Bush, Obama to Biden. However, Trump is also interested in restoring his relationship with Crown Prince Bin Salman, which is complicated by his plan to displace Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and use the coastal country for developments.

Saudi Arabia criticized this plan and later invites other Arab leaders this month to develop alternative ideas for the Gaza Strip. The controversial proposal, which is regarded as unexpile in the entire Middle East, hangs in the air, while Trump is supposed to speak in Miami at a global financial conference organized by Saudi Arabia.

For the most transactional of the US president, investments from this fund could ultimately determine his view of the kingdom-an approach that Crown Prince Bin Salman has not missed. After Trump said on the first day of his tenure that he was considering Saudi Arabia to make his first destination abroad, when Riad shopping $ 500 billion in American products, the Crown Prince immediately took the phone and said that he was ready to spend $ 600 billion over the next four years.

The following day Trump had increased its price. "I will ask the crown prince, who is a fantastic guy, to round off the amount to about $ 1 trillion," he said at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The audience laughed gently.