Russian and US officials will meet next week in Saudi Arabia to prepare for a possible meeting between Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump. It could take place as early as the end of February, Bloomberg writes, citing sources, UNN reports.
Details of the meeting and the list of participants are still being finalized. However, according to Bloomberg's sources, the group is likely to include national security advisers. According to one of the sources, the goal is to set a date before the start of the holy month of Ramadan in March.
According to another official, most Europeans have not yet been informed about this. And although officials from Ukraine are expected to arrive, they are probably not aware of all the preparations either, Bloomberg writes.
Saudi National Security Advisor Moussaed al-Ayban will hold the talks, the source said, adding that the plans could be disrupted by last-minute changes.
National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff are expected to lead the talks.
"Putin is assembling a team of heavyweights with decades of experience in high-stakes negotiations. Among them are Yuri Ushakov, the Kremlin's top foreign policy adviser with five decades of diplomatic experience, and its chief intelligence officer, Sergei Naryshkin, who served with Putin in the Soviet KGB, according to people familiar with the situation," the newspaper writes.
According to the interlocutors, Kirill Dmitriev, a financier educated at Stanford and Harvard and with ties to the Russian dictator's family, may play a key role as an unofficial channel of communication with Trump's team.
Recall
On Thursday, US President Donald Trump announced that a summit with Vladimir Putin is being prepared in Saudi Arabia - and said that Ukrainians will take part in it. For his part, the President of Ukraine confirmed an official visit to Saudi Arabia and the UAE with a humanitarian program. Zelenskyy emphasized that he does not plan to meet with either Russians or Americans during his visit.