Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman likely garnered Donald Trump’s attention when he announced plans for a USD 600 billion investment in the United States.
The talks between Russian and US officials in Saudi Arabia concluded on Tuesday as a senior Kremlin official told Russian state TV that no date has been set yet for a meeting between Putin and US President Donald Trump. He added that the meeting was “unlikely” to take place next week.
Here’s the reason why Saudi Arabia became host of US-Russia talks
However, it is crucial to discover the reasons behind Saudi Arabia being selected to host the high-profile delegation-level talks between US and Russian diplomats. The reason is Saudi Arabia’s crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has already taken over Saudi Arabia as its de facto leader under his father, the 89-year-old King Salman.
While some previous incidents, including the prince’s war in Yemen and the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, tarnished his reputation internationally, his outreach to US President Donald Trump might have panned out positively for him.
Previously, during years in the cold after the Khashoggi killing, both Russia and China offered Saudi Arabia and Prince Mohammed the cachet of being respected by Moscow and Beijing, bypassing persistent human rights concerns of the West. Prince Mohammed has hosted and spoken by phone with both Chinese President Xi Jinping and Putin.
How did Mohammad bin Salman catch Donald Trump’s attention?
Mohammed bin Salman likely caught President Donald Trump’s attention when he announced plans for a USD 600 billion investment in the United States — prompting the American leader’s musings about whether to make Saudi Arabia the location for his first foreign trip in this presidency.
Notably, if the Trump-Putin meeting takes place, it is also likely to take place in Saudi Arabia, and Prince Mohammed is likely to remain a top player. Moscow hopes the meeting can bring it in from the cold of Western nations.
Mohammed bin Salman now finds himself at the centre of the Trump administration’s outreach to Russia, a country Saudi Arabia carefully maintained ties to during the war through the OPEC+ oil cartel.
As the summit opened, the state-run Saudi Press Agency announced that “upon directives from” the royal, talks between Russia and the US are taking place in Riyadh as “part of the kingdom’s ongoing efforts to promote global security and” peace”—firmly putting Prince Mohammed’s fingerprints on the proceedings.
(With inputs from AP)
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