Top Officials to Meet Next Week to Prepare Trump-Putin Summit

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.

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.

Most Europeans have so far not been informed, according to another official who spoke on condition of anonymity. And while officials from Ukraine are expected, they also don’t appear to be fully in the loop on the preparations. 

“Ukraine will never accept deals made behind our backs without our involvement,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told the Munich Security Conference on Saturday. “And the same rule should apply to all of Europe.” Zelenskiy’s office didn’t immediately respond to a query on the meeting. 

US President Donald Trump himself indicated on Thursday that a summit with Vladimir Putin in the Gulf kingdom was afoot — and said Ukrainians would be involved. The two also exchanged invitations over the course of a 90-minute phone call in what was the first contact between the leaders since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. 

The White House’s National Security Council didn’t respond to a request for comment, nor did a Kremlin spokesperson. 

Saudi authorities have invited US, Russian and Ukrainian representatives to the gathering in Riyadh, people briefed on the matter who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the meeting. Saudi National Security Adviser Musaed Al-Aiban will convene the talks, the person said, adding that plans could be scuttled by last-minute changes. 

Al-Aiban is a seasoned operative close to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and has represented him in negotiations with Iran as well as with Washington in talks about a defense and strategic cooperation agreement and the prospect of normalizing ties with Israel. 

National Security Advisor Michael Waltz and Steve Witkoff, a special envoy, are expected to take the lead in the negotiations in Saudi Arabia, people familiar said. That raises the question of what role special representative Keith Kellogg will be playing. 

Putin is assembling a team of heavyweights with decades of experience in high-stakes negotiations. They include Yuri Ushakov, his chief Kremlin foreign-policy adviser who has five decades of involvement in diplomacy, and his top spymaster, Sergei Naryshkin, who served with Putin in the Soviet KGB, according to people familiar with situation. Kirill Dmitriev, a financier educated at Stanford and Harvard with ties to the Russian president’s own family, may play a key role as an unofficial back-channel with Trump’s negotiators, the people said. 

The level of contact has intensified in the past week, especially after US Vice President JD Vance’s excoriating speech at the Munich Security Council that left European attendees stunned, with a personal take-down of their “fundamental values” and vulnerable democracies.

The kingdom has fostered close relations with the US, Russia and Ukraine. It’s seen as a neutral venue for potential peace talks.

With assistance from Daryna Krasnolutska, Jenny Leonard, Sam Dagher and Kate Sullivan.

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