Marco Rubio arrives in Saudi Arabia

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday for expected talks with Russian officials on ending Moscow’s nearly three-year war in Ukraine.

The discussions follow President Donald Trump's recent call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, where he ordered officials to begin negotiations.

Riyadh, also involved in Gaza-related talks with Washington, played a role in securing a US-Russia captive swap last week. Rubio will meet Russian officials in Saudi Arabia alongside National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and White House Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff. The exact Russian participants remain unclear.

Russian newspaper Kommersant reported that the talks would take place Tuesday in Riyadh. These will be among the first high-level US-Russia discussions in years and may pave the way for a Trump-Putin meeting.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is in the region, with planned visits to Saudi Arabia and Turkey, though Ukraine is not expected to join the talks.

Gaza Talks

Rubio is also expected to meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) to discuss Trump's controversial proposal to resettle Gaza’s Palestinian residents in other Arab countries and "own Gaza" to lead reconstruction efforts. The plan has sparked backlash in the Arab world.

Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and other Arab nations oppose Palestinian resettlement and are developing a counterproposal. MbS has also maintained that Saudi Arabia will not normalize ties with Israeli Occupation without a clear path to Palestinian statehood.

Before arriving in Saudi Arabia, Rubio met with "Israeli" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reaffirming US support for it against Iran.