IRIA News

Senior officials and representatives from 40 different countries arrived in Saudi Arabia to participate in the peace talks aimed at finding a solution to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. The summit began on August 5, 2023, without the participation of Russian officials.

Representatives from the U.S., China, India, Ukraine, and several European countries are present in Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea port city of Jeddah for the peace talks, however, Russia is not part of the meeting.

The two-day-long meeting is seeking support for peace between Russia and Ukraine beyond the Western world. Saudi Arabia is reaching out to the Global South countries on the matter, which have been reluctant in taking sides in the conflict.

The ongoing war started to affect the developing world directly after Russia’s pullout from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a key program responsible for stabilizing grain prices around the world amid the conflict between the two largest exporters of grains.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy welcomed that peace talks initiative in Jeddah saying that “This is very important because, on issues such as food security, the fate of millions of people in Africa, Asia and other parts of the world directly depends on how fast the world moves to implement the peace formula.”

In May 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a surprise appearance at the Arab League summit held in Jeddah and delivered an emotional speech seeking support from the Arab leaders while complaining about their silence on the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. Zelenskyy also held a one-on-one meeting with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman where the two leaders discussed ways to end the war in Ukraine and Saudi Arabia’s role in releasing captives held by Russian forces.

Who is attending Jeddah peace talks?

Nearly 40 countries have been invited to attend the meeting, making it one of the largest summits on the issue. Representatives from Indonesia, Egypt, Mexico, Chile, and Zambia as well as four members of the influential BRICS bloc, Brazil, India, China, and South Africa are attending the summit. The U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan is leading Washington’s delegation at the talks.

A European Union official informed reporters that there would not be a joint statement at the end of the talks, however, the Saudi administration would present a roadmap that would focus on discussing the effects of the ongoing war on global food security and nuclear security. The peace talks would also focus on reaching a prisoner release deal between Russia and Ukraine. The officials said that there was an “agreement that respect of territorial integrity and (the) sovereignty of Ukraine needs to be at the heart of any peace settlement”.

Zelenskyy acknowledged that every participant country has a different approach toward the ongoing war but urged their leaders to stand up for global peace and international law. He said that “different continents, different political approaches to world affairs. But all are united by the priority of international law.”

Zelenskyy thanked Saudi Arabia for hosting the meeting and said that his team is “moving step by step towards the Global Peace Summit” that Kyiv has planned this autumn following meetings in Jeddah and Copenhagen. He called the Jeddah meeting important for the Ukrainian government’s international efforts to implement the peace formula.

“Different continents, different political approaches to global affairs, but everyone is united by the priority of international law,” he said in a video posted on social media platform X, formerly called Twitter.

Kremlin keeping an eye on the talks

Although Russia is not participating directly in the peace talks, the Kremlin said it will “keep an eye” on the meeting. Leading up to the talks in Saudi Arabia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier this week that “Any attempt to promote a peaceful settlement deserves a positive evaluation.”

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that “if Saudi Arabia’s talks on Ukraine help the West understand the dead end of [President Vladimir] Zelensky’s plan, then they will not be useless.”

China’s participation

Especially significant is China’s participation in the Saudi-led peace summit. Beijing, which has not been a part of such previous meetings, sent its Special Envoy for Eurasian Affairs Li Hui to attend the meeting in Jeddah.

“China is willing to work with the international community to continue to play a constructive role in promoting a political solution to the crisis in Ukraine,” a spokesperson at the Chinese Foreign Ministry Wang Wenbin said in a statement regarding Hui’s participation in the summit.

Saudi diplomacy

This is not the first time a “peace summit” for the Russia-Ukraine war has been organized. A similar session was hosted by Denmark earlier this year in June which ended without any substantial success. The current peace summit is expected to make an impact on the Global South largely due to Saudi Arabia’s influence in the region.

Saudi Arabia, unlike Denmark, has not taken sides in the conflict. The policy of neutrality has played an important role in bringing Chinese and Indian representatives to the summit. Riyadh has also been working closely with Moscow and Turkey to mediate prisoner swap deals between Russia and Ukraine.