Iran, Russia officials to meet in S Arabia for summit

EghtesadOnline: Senior officials from the US and Russia are meeting next week in Saudi Arabia to pave the way for a potential leaders’ summit as soon as the end of the month to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, according to people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported on Saturday. 

Details of the meeting and the list of attendees are still being worked out, but people briefed on the plans said the group is likely to comprise national security advisers. The aim is to lock in a date before the holy month of Ramadan starts in March, a person said.

The presidents of United States and Russia discussed in a phone call on Wednesday a broad range of issues, primarily the Ukraine conflict, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The phone call turned out to be “lengthy and highly productive,” Trump said in a post on his Truth social media platform. “We discussed Ukraine, the Middle East, Energy, Artificial Intelligence, the power of the Dollar, and various other subjects,” the US president wrote.

The two leaders have agreed they “want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine,” Trump said, announcing an “immediate” start of negotiations to resolve the Ukraine conflict.

Wednesday’s call represents the first official top-level contact between Moscow and Washington since Trump took office in January. While phone conversations between Trump and Putin have been rumored for weeks, none have been officially confirmed, with both sides stating only they had been maintaining contact through various unspecified government channels. / Mehr