Trump leans on close ties to Saudi prince as he looks for a deal on Ukraine
CNN
As President Donald Trump presses ahead with his attempt to end the war in Ukraine, he is leaning on an old ally: Saudi Arabia’s powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whose success in mediating an end to the conflict could deepen his already warm ties to the new American president.
As President Donald Trump presses ahead with his attempt to end the war in Ukraine, he is leaning on an old ally: Saudi Arabia’s powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whose success in mediating an end to the conflict could deepen his already warm ties to the new American president. More than simply providing his desert kingdom as a venue for talks, Prince bin Salman and his diplomats are expected to play a role in brokering a peace agreement, according to officials familiar with the matter, as they look to elevate Saudi Arabia into an influential international player. Trump is eager for a quick resolution to the war, and views Riyadh as his best collaborator. Officials say if preliminary talks Tuesday between senior Trump administration officials and their Russian counterparts are successful, work toward arranging a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin could progress quickly – potentially culminating in a summit in Saudi Arabia within the coming month. “It’ll be soon, we’ll see what happens,” Trump said Sunday. “This should have been done three years ago, four years ago, before (the war) started. But it should have been done immediately after it started, as opposed to now.” From Vienna to Reykjavik to Geneva to Helsinki, history books are filled with US-Russian summits in Europe reaching various degrees of diplomatic achievements. Never before has such a high-stakes meeting been held in Riyadh. A number of other nations had offered to host an upcoming Trump-Putin summit, including Serbia and Switzerland.