US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday ahead of expected talks with Russian officials aimed at ending Moscow’s nearly three-year war in Ukraine.
The talks come after President Donald Trump last week spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone and ordered top officials to begin negotiations on the war, which he repeatedly vowed to end during his presidential campaign.
Riyadh, which is also involved in talks with Washington over the future of the Gaza Strip, has played a role in early contacts between the Trump administration, which took office on January 20, and Moscow, helping to secure a prisoner swap last week.
US top diplomat Rubio will meet Russian officials in Saudi Arabia alongside Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz and White House Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
It was not immediately clear who they would meet from Russia.
According to the report the talks would take place on Tuesday in the Saudi capital Riyadh, citing unnamed sources.
The talks will be among the first high-level in-person discussions in years between Russian and U.S. officials and are meant to precede a meeting between the US and Russian presidents.
Rubio on Sunday said the coming weeks and days would determine whether Putin is serious about making peace.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is also in the region. Zelenskyy, who arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday, said he also intended to visit Saudi Arabia and Turkey, but no dates were set. He said he had no plans to meet Russian or US officials and Ukraine is not believed to be invited to the Saudi-hosted talks.
Rubio is expected to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia. On the agenda is likely to be Trump’s proposal for the Palestinian residents of Gaza to be resettled in other Arab nations and for the US to lead the reconstruction of their homes.
That proposal has infuriated the Arab World and heightened fears among Palestinians in Gaza of being driven out of the coastal strip.
