MBS, the champion of peace

While the signals of peace ring out between Kyiv and Moscow under American sponsorship, the great achievement of the moment is that this realization has arrived on Arab soil, in Saudi Arabia. It is almost unprecedented in modern times for an Arab capital to host peace talks on an international crisis. Perhaps the only precedent in terms of scope and scale was when the small and very discreet Sultanate of Oman served as a platform for secret negotiations between the US and Iran, which would lead to the famous 2015 international agreement on the Iranian nuclear issue, which has since had fluctuating fortunes.

Today, Saudi diplomacy plays a key role in the frantic search for peace between Russia and Ukraine. It began with a meeting between the Russian and American foreign ministers, Sergei Lavrov and Marco Rubio, respectively. It continued with American-Ukrainian negotiations at the Jeddah summit, which led to Kyiv’s acceptance of a month-long truce as a preamble to a possible lasting ceasefire and political negotiations between the two belligerent countries.

The choice of Saudi Arabia raises questions. Traditionally, such meetings, which are crucial to world peace, are rarely held in Arab countries. Today, the situation has changed. Saudi Arabia has become the destination where world peace and stability are negotiated at the highest level. The secret of this performance lies on two levels of analysis that have qualified a country like Saudi Arabia to be this convent for peace in Europe.

The first is to be found in the general positioning of Arab countries with regard to the war between Russia and Ukraine. Since its outbreak, most Arab countries have refused to take sides. Despite the privileged economic and security relations they have developed with the American administration and Europe, these Arab countries have refused to blindly align themselves against Russia, alongside the Americans and Europeans. Inspired by a Global South philosophy that considers the war between Kyiv and Moscow to be first and foremost an internal European affair, a preoccupation of the Atlantic family, these Arab countries have refrained from taking part, either by arming Ukraine or by participating in the economic blockade imposed by the West against Russia. Saudi Arabia, a major oil producer and exporter, has consistently refused to implement energy production strategies designed to stifle the Russian economy.

Saudi Arabia has become the destination where world peace and stability are negotiated at the highest level

Mustapha Tossa

The second level of analysis that explains why these Arab countries have maintained a quality relationship with Moscow is the fact that the Arab leadership, whether Saudi, Moroccan or Emirati, has developed personal relations and direct contacts with President Vladimir Putin. The Russian leader sees them not as adversaries blindly aligned with his enemies, but as objective partners with balanced positions, with whom he can not only do business but also build political compromises. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman regularly talks to Putin, just as he regularly receives Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

This is not the first time Saudi diplomacy has been involved in the war between Russia and Ukraine. Its involvement in the conflict has already led to exchanges of Russian and Ukrainian prisoners, as was the case in September 2022, when it also played a key role in the release of a dozen foreign prisoners captured in Ukraine. Among them were US and UK nationals.

Saudi diplomacy has gained in credibility and effectiveness. It demonstrated its performance and transformation by drawing closer to China, enabling Beijing to sponsor an unprecedented 2023 political agreement between Riyadh and the Iranian regime. China succeeded where Washington had failed. Today, Saudi Arabia is playing in the big league, establishing itself as the essential receptacle for the peace between the Ukrainians and the Russians that the whole world so desires. The crown prince willingly assumes the role of champion of peace. The war between Russia and Ukraine gives him the opportunity to deploy the new breadth of Saudi diplomacy.

This Saudi performance on Ukraine — if it succeeds, as all indicators seem to suggest, in restoring peace to Europe — will have a fierce impact on the quality and scope of the roles the Kingdom will play in other regional conflicts and wars. Saudi leadership will gain in notoriety and effectiveness if it is to play a political and diplomatic role commensurate with its already gigantic economic and financial power.

• Mustapha Tossa is a Franco-Moroccan journalist. In addition to having participated in the launch of Radio France Internationale’s Arabic service, he has notably worked for Monte Carlo Doualiya, TV5 Monde and France 24. He also maintains two blogs in French and Arabic, in which he discusses French and international politics with a focus on Arab and Maghrebi issues. X: @tossamus