Kamran Karami – researcher of Middle East issues

Putin’s stated desire This desire of Putin can be evaluated as a reflection of Russia’s expanding relations with Saudi Arabia as one of the country’s emerging partners. Relations that have gained wide dimensions since 2019, especially in OPEC+. On the other hand, Moscow’s desire to resolve the Ukraine crisis through Saudi Arabia reflects Riyadh’s decades-long relationship with the Western bloc, making the Saudi kingdom a possible player among the conflicting parties. Therefore, Riyadh’s functional position in terms of political and economic components has made Moscow show a desire to entrust such a role to Saudi Arabia.

Of course, Saudi Arabia has played this role before, and Putin naturally considered it in his response to the Saudi reporter. Given this, representatives from more than 40 countries gathered in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in early September 2023, without the presence of Russia, to discuss the war in Ukraine and how to contain this crisis. Negotiations that, although there was no concrete result, introduced Riyadh as a mediating actor for the parties.

However, Putin continued to emphasize that reaching any peace talks through a final statement should be written based on the draft obtained during the 2022 talks in Turkey. The 2022 talks between Kyiv and Moscow to resolve the differences were held with a draft peace treaty, and the parties came very close to peace.

If the treaty were implemented, Ukraine would agree to become a neutral state with a limited military in exchange for international security guarantees.

According to Putin, the Ukrainian delegation first approved the draft treaty but then abruptly left the negotiating table. Kyiv officials later said they did not trust the Russians and that Western leaders had advised them not to accept Moscow’s terms. At the same time, the Russian side believes that Ukraine stopped negotiations because of the promise to join NATO.

In line with Putin’s readiness to hold peace talks in Saudi Arabia, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced his proposed plan themed “Energy Security” and referred to this plan as the beginning of ending the war between Russia and Ukraine. If the two sides put the energy issue aside, this can be the basis and start for negotiations on ending the conflict./

However, the positions of the parties, especially Ukraine’s insistence on the 10-point peace plan that Kyiv first presented in November 2023, which includes the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, exchange of prisoners under the all-for-all formula, and nuclear, food, and energy security guarantees, has made peace a distant goal to achieve. Naturally, Riyadh can help this process and play the role of a balancer when it first puts peace in an achievable perspective by balancing the positions of Russia and Ukraine.