Trump on first meeting with Putin: We will probably meet in Saudi Arabia

When US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he could meet soon with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to discuss ending the three-year war in Ukraine, he also hinted at where the meeting could take place.

"We expect him to come here, and I will go there, for the first time we will meet maybe in Saudi Arabia... We will meet in Saudi Arabia, we will see if we can do something," the American leader told reporters, writes New York Times.

Trump said he and Vladimir Putin have good relations with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, as the reason they chose that nation for their first meeting.

"We know the heir to the crown and I think it would be a very good place to be," said the 78-year-old.

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Saudi Arabia is increasingly playing a role as a mediator in the Russian-Ukrainian war, along with its neighbors, the United Arab Emirates.

For Prince Mohammed, mediating in the war represents an opportunity to strengthen his status as a global leader whose influence extends beyond the Middle East.

This also allows him to position himself as a key mediator, able to bring powerful nations to the negotiating table, despite the ongoing struggle to end Saudi Arabia's involvement in the devastating war in Yemen. In September 2022, Prince Mohammed helped broker the release of 10 prisoners from various countries, as part of a broader exchange process between Russia and Ukraine.

Later, in May 2023, he invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to speak at a meeting of Arab leaders in the Saudi city of Jeddah, where Zelensky called on Middle Eastern nations to support Ukraine against Russia.

Later that summer, Saudi Arabia and Ukraine jointly organized closed-door talks in Jeddah aimed at ending the war, which were joined by diplomats from over 40 countries, but not Russia.

In August 2024, Saudi Arabia played a strong role in negotiating the largest prisoner exchange between the US and Russia since the Cold War, and Putin expressed his personal thanks to the crown prince. Earlier on Wednesday, Trump’s special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, said Prince Mohammed played an “instrumental” role in brokering the release of Marco Fogel, an American teacher arrested on charges of bringing medical marijuana into Russia in August 2021.

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"He has a very strong friendship with President Trump, and behind the scenes he has encouraged, pushed and sought the right outcomes, and that has been helpful, it really has been," Vitkoff said of the role of the Saudi crown prince.

Like many Middle Eastern states, Saudi Arabia has made it clear that it does not want to take sides. It has sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine while maintaining close ties with Russia.

The Trump administration also wants resource-rich Gulf countries, particularly Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, to play a post-war role in Gaza.

Trump promotes the proposal to displace about two million Palestinians from Gaza, and then turn this enclave into a "Middle Eastern riviera."

Earlier this week, Jordanian King Abdullah II said a meeting would be held in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, to discuss Trump's proposal for Gaza, before Arab leaders gather for an emergency Arab League summit in Cairo on February 27. /Telegraph/