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Why are these talks being held in Saudi Arabia? Wasn’t the Saudi Royal family behind the attacks on the World Trade Center? What standing do they have to negotiate anything? They’re not a member of NATO. Just because Trump has business deals with them doesn’t make them a trustworthy ally of the US, JMO.
The Crown Prince also has a close relationship with Putin.
In recent years, the prince – who is reportedly fascinated by Putin and his grip on power in Russia – has moved closer to the Russian president’s orbit. According to some analysts, he was given a key role in two prisoner exchanges between Russia and the US, including one involving the journalist Evan Gershkovich last year.
That warm relationship began in 2015 when Prince Mohammed visited the Russian president in St Petersburg, and Putin then visited Saudi Arabia in 2023.
The relationship between Moscow and Riyadh has grown ever more important, as Jens Heibach and Luíza Cerioli pointed out in an essay for the Contemporary Security Policy journal last year that explained Saudi Arabia’s long-term reluctance to criticise Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia, they wrote, was Riyadh’s “pivotal partner” within the wider Opec+ and “an important pillar of its foreign-policy diversification strategy”.
Saudi Arabia is hosting more Ukraine talks – but how neutral is it?
The US and Ukraine will meet in Jeddah next week, but the Saudi crown prince’s closeness to Putin is a concern