2023-08-05 04:00:30
Saudi Arabia is hosting a meeting on Ukraine from Saturday, a new attempt to impose its international power, even if expectations remain limited as to the results of this umpteenth peace initiative.
The wealthy Gulf monarchy announced Friday evening the arrival of security advisers from brotherly countries to discuss the Ukrainian crisis, during this two-day meeting in Jeddah, on the Red Sea, without revealing the names of the participating States.
This meeting reflects, according to the official press agency SPA, the readiness of the kingdom to exercise a mission of good offices to help find a solution that will lead to permanent peace.
About 30 countries, without Russia, have been invited, according to diplomats informed of the preparations and who requested anonymity.
According to them, Riad is particularly keen to receive Brazil, India, China and South Africa, members of the BRICS (with Russia) who, unlike Westerners, have not taken sides with Ukraine without however support the Russian invasion launched in February 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed a very important meeting on Friday.
Close to Moscow and maintaining good relations with kyiv, Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest exporter of crude oil, has already sought to position itself as a mediator in the war.
The ambition of the Saudi prince
Ukraine nevertheless criticized Riad for playing into Russia’s hands, under Western sanctions, by jointly pursuing an oil policy aimed at boosting prices on world markets.
Criticized by Western countries for its refusal to condemn Russia, China will be represented at the Jeddah meeting by its envoy for Ukraine, Li Hui. Beijing said it was determined to continue to play a constructive role for a political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.
India and South Africa have also announced that they will participate.
Saudi Arabia, after several years of erratic diplomacy under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, now sees itself as an international mediator.
The kingdom has improved its relations with its own rivals, starting with Qatar, Turkey and even, this year again, Iran and Syria.
By hosting this summit, Saudi Arabia wants to strengthen its ambition to become a world middle power capable of mediating in conflicts, observes Joost Hiltermann, head of the Middle East at the specialized NGO International Crisis Group.
Classic balancing act
Saudi Arabia launched a military operation in neighboring Yemen in 2015 to support government forces there fighting Houthi rebels, close to Iran. Accusations of war crimes and the humanitarian crisis, one of the worst in the world, has tarnished the image of Saudi Arabia.
But it was the stupor over the 2018 killing of critical Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in Istanbul that plunged the once-low-key kingdom into its worst diplomatic crisis.
The volatility of the energy markets linked to the war in Ukraine, however, gave Saudi Arabia an opportunity to regain its place on the world stage.
From now on, Riad wants to see itself alongside India or Brazil, because it is only as a group that these middle powers can hope to have an impact, believes Joost Hiltermann.
Saudi Arabia has backed UN Security Council resolutions denouncing the Russian invasion as well as Moscow’s declared annexation of territory in eastern Ukraine.
In May, the kingdom invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to an Arab League summit, who took the opportunity to accuse some leaders of the region of turning a blind eye to the Russian invasion.
But Riad is adopting a classic balancing act, notes Umar Karim, an expert on Saudi politics at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.
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