Saudi Arabia ‘comfortable’ venue for talks to end Ukraine war: Vladimir Putin
The Hindu
Russian President Putin discusses Ukrainian crisis resolution in Saudi Arabia, highlighting obstacles posed by Ukraine's stance against dialogue with Russia.
Saudi Arabia will be a ‘comfortable’ venue for talks to resolve the Ukrainian crisis, said Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the BRICS summit on Saturday (October 19, 2024). In response to a question, President Putin acknowledged his close personal relation with the Saudi royal family and said the main hurdle on the way for the peace process is the attitude of Ukraine that has issued a decree against holding dialogue with Russia to end the conflict that started in February 2022.
“We consider Saudi Arabia as a friendly country. I have very good relations with the King, and generally friendly personal relation and with the Crown Prince. And I know, I’m just sure that everything Saudi Arabia does in this area, it does sincerely, I have no doubts here. And therefore, if such events are organized in Saudi Arabia, of course, the venue itself is quite comfortable for us,” said President Putin.
Saudi Arabia has been engaged to find a solution on both Israel-Palestine and Russia-Ukraine fronts and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman led the Saudi delegation at the first EU-GCC summit that took place in Brussels on 16 October.
President Putin reminded that negotiation had taken place between Russian and Ukrainian teams with the help of Turkey that has produced a text. Others like China and Brazil too have been active in bringing the conflict to an end. President Putin acknowledged the support from the BRICS member countries for bringing the conflict to an end and said Russia is examining the ongoing dialogue efforts “very carefully”.
The conflict in Ukraine began on 24 February 24 2022 with Russian missiles landing on Ukraine and ever since several countries have attempted to broker peace.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi too has voiced support for peace on multiple occasions since the conflict began. Earlier this year he engaged both Ukraine and Russian leaders which was followed by a visit to Moscow by National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Kumar Doval in September.
President Putin however argued that the main problem on the path of peace has been Ukraine’s reluctance to engage Russia.
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