Description: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has arrived in Riyadh where he initially met with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman awaiting the Russian diplomatic envoy on Tuesday as Ukraine peace talks gain traction. The meeting was set following the phone call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin last week and its ultimately what would lay the groundwork for intense negotiations regarding peace in Ukraine. The Russian delegation would be led by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as both sides are expecting to reestablish the pre – war official diplomatic relations. European countries also met on Monday as they were left out of the initial reinstatement of relations between the US and Russia which was negatively perceived by Ukraine’s President Volodymir Zelenskyy and other prominent EU leaders such as Emmanuel Macron, Olaf Scholz, Donald Tusk and Keir Starmer. Both delegations are set to meet on Tuesday and lay the foundations for peace negotiations in Ukraine.
Impact: Both meetings in Riyadh and Paris only confirm the EU – US diplomatic capsizing which Russia would aim to fully exploit. Russian FM Lavrov had already stated that territorial concessions wouldn’t be made in any case which leaves the US and especially Ukraine with little to no margin for error in future negotiations. The US would want to recover their investments in military and humanitarian aid by tapping into Ukraine’s mineral deposits which were estimated by the trillions and were currently under Russian control. Russia would aim to strengthen its negotiating position with recent aggressive ground advances and establish a de – facto ruling on the mineral rich regions which would enable them to make little to no concessions in future peace talks.