Prince's Secret Plan: Why the US and Russian Federation met in Saudi Arabia

At a meeting between the US and Russia on Tuesday, the kingdom expected to go beyond the reception of guests and play an intermediary role, CNN Saudi official said. The Saudite team was headed by the national security advisor. The venue of these negotiations, described by the Kremlin representative Dmitry Peskov as "in general" for the US and Russia, is considered as a diplomatic victory for the 39-year-old actual leader of the kingdom, the Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.

He set himself the task of turning his rich in oil country and its fundamentalist Islamist past into a state capable of cultivating soft power from enormous wealth. "I do not think that there is another place where the leader would have so good personal relationships with Trump and Putin," said Saudi commentator Ali Shikhaba, adding that "for Saudi Arabia this event is" prestigious and aggravating The soft power of Saudi Arabia at the regional and global levels. "All this part of a larger shift.

In recent years, Saudi Arabia has reorienting its policy on neutrality in global conflicts with the hope of attracting billions of investments that could help" Vision 2030 ". Prince of Saudi Arabia's Economy from Oil. Arabia with the West. In August 2023, she held a two -day peace summary with representatives of more than 40 countries (albeit without Russia), and in February of that year she promised to allocate 400 million dollars in Ukraine.

The increase in the influence of Prince Bin Salman in negotiations is conditioned by his close relationship with US President Donald Trump, who supported the young representative of the royal family when the international community rejected him after the murder of journalist Jamal Hashoggi Saudi agents. In 2017, Trump broke the tradition by choosing Saudi Arabia for his first international presidential visit.

Even after he lost the election in 2020, Saudi Arabia continued to maintain close business ties with Trump, investing $ 2 billion in the firm, headed by his son -in -law Jared Kushner, and announced the plans of construction of Trump's tower in the kingdom. Putin visited the Kingdom of 2023 and made Riyadh join Brix-a block of countries seeking to resist the economic influence of the United States. Analysts say Bin Salman's position has proven to be useful.

He played an "important role" in the liberation of the American teacher Mark Fogel from custody in Russia last week, said Trump's Special Representative in the Middle East Steve Witcoff. Saudi Arabia, together with her neighbor, the United Arab Emirates, also successfully made a mediator in several exchanges of prisoners between Ukraine and Russia.

In the long run, Saudi Arabia can try to use its role as a mediator in a meeting between Russia and the United States to benefit from the urgent regional issue - Trump's contradictory proposal to take control of gas and permanently relocate its inhabitants.

Trump would like to normalize relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, but so far the official position of Riyadh sounds like this: So is the current US administrations, " - said in a statement of the kingdom, made in response to Trump's plan for Gaza.