The Saudi Crown Prince is in phone call to the Russian President

The Saudi Press Agency reported early Friday (local time) that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman informed Russian President Vladimir Putin in a telephone conversation that the Kingdom is still committed to facilitating dialogue and supporting the political solution to the Ukrainian crisis. The agency said that the contact reviewed “the efforts made to solve the Ukrainian crisis, as His Highness the Crown Prince stressed the Kingdom’s keenness to make all good endeavors to facilitate the dialogue, and everything that leads to a political solution to the crisis in Ukraine.”

She added that the communication also reviewed “the areas of cooperation between the two countries and ways to develop it.” The Russian President announced Moscow’s approval of the proposals to stop the fighting in Ukraine, provided that it leads to “achieving sustainable peace and removing the radical causes of the conflict”, without expressly confirming the acceptance of the American proposal, which was announced at the conclusion of the US -Ukrainian talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, with a 30 -day truce.

“We agree to the proposals to stop the fighting, but we start that this must come in a way that leads to a sustainable peace and remove the initial causes of this crisis,” Putin said at a press conference, yesterday, at the end of his talks with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko in Moscow. These Putin’s comments come before receiving the American envoy to the Middle East Steve Wittouf in the Kremlin in the first meeting of its kind in more than three years.

Commenting on the Ukrainian preparation for the armistice, Putin considered that the talks in Saudi Arabia may seem “outwardly” such as “the Ukrainian side took a decision under American pressure,” expressing at the same time his conviction that Ukraine was the one that had to demand the Americans urgently, given the situation in the battlefield. He stressed the need to take into account the armistice proposal to the situation on the ground, which is not in the interest of Ukraine, citing the situation in the Cursk Province, which he visited, wearing a military uniform on Wednesday evening, and added: “The situation there is under our full control, and the group that penetrated into our land has become completely isolated and under full fiery control.”

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that US officials will go to Russia to discuss an agreement between the United States and Ukraine on a temporary ceasefire for 30 days and a path of peace talks, adding that it is up to Russia after Ukraine agreed to a ceasefire during talks over more than eight hours with US officials in Saudi Arabia.

Trump considered, on Thursday, that Putin made a “very promising” statement about a possible ceasefire in Ukraine, but it was not “complete”, and Trump added that his special envoy Steve Witkev is taking serious discussions with Russia on ending the war in Ukraine, and said: “We hope they will do the right thing,” expressing his belief that Russia will not attack the United States’ allies: “This will not happen. It is happening”.

(Reuters, New Arab)