U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday ahead of expected negotiations with Russian leaders on a cease-fire to Moscow’s nearly three-year-old conflict in Ukraine.
The talks come on the heels of President Donald Trump’s telephone call last week to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his instruction of senior officials to begin negotiations. Trump had promised repeatedly during his campaign to put an end to the war.
Rubio, who called Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday, will meet with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia. Trump national security adviser Mike Waltz and White House Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will join him, a US lawmaker and a Reuters source said.Yet, no word is given about which Russian representatives will be there.
Russian daily Kommersant stated that the talks would occur on Tuesday in Riyadh, citing unidentified sources. These discussions will represent one of the first face-to-face encounters in years between top U.S. and Russian officials and will help pave the way for a later meeting between Trump and Putin.
Rubio highlighted on Sunday that the coming days and weeks would be decisive in establishing “whether Putin is serious about making peace.”
At the same time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is also in the area. He flew into the United Arab Emirates on Sunday and expressed intentions to go to Saudi Arabia and Turkey, though no dates have been announced. Zelenskiy said he has no plans to meet with U.S. or Russian leaders, and Ukraine is not thought to be part of the Saudi-hosted talks.
Gaza Talks Also on Agenda
Apart from the Ukraine talks, Rubio will also be receiving Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. On the agenda are Trump’s proposed contentious plan to resettle Palestinian inhabitants of Gaza in other Arab states, where the U.S. would be in charge of reconstruction.
The proposal has come under sharp criticism from the Arab world and caused Palestinian concerns regarding their potential long-term displacement from Gaza.
The Gaza war broke out after the October 7, 2023, attack by Iran-backed Hamas militants, which killed around 1,200 individuals and 250 were taken hostage, as per Israeli sources. Israel’s military retaliation afterwards killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, as stated by Gaza health officials. A ceasefire deal last month has temporarily ended hostilities.
Saudi Arabia and other Arab states have strongly dismissed any resettlement proposals for Palestinians. Riyadh is instead spearheading Arab efforts to prepare a counteroffer, which may involve a Gulf-initiated reconstruction fund and a strategy to reduce Hamas’s power in the area.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has also insisted that Saudi Arabia will not normalize relations with Israel—a central U.S. goal—without a clear path toward the creation of a Palestinian state.
Rubio’s Trip to Israel
Before traveling to Saudi Arabia, Rubio traveled to Israel on Sunday and met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In their meeting, Rubio reasserted America’s commitment to Israel in its current regional standoff with Iran.
