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“This is what competent leadership looks like,” the tech tycoon and ally of President Donald Trump wrote on X
Billionaire Elon Musk, a major ally of US President Donald Trump, has welcomed the arrival of a Russian delegation in Saudi Arabia ahead of the first direct Russian-US negotiations over the Ukraine conflict.
The Tesla, SpaceX, and X owner reposted an excerpt from a Russian news segment about the arrival of the delegation led by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Riyadh. “This is what competent leadership looks like,” he wrote on X.
In a video shared by Musk, journalist Evgeny Popov asked Yury Ushakov, President Vladimir Putin’s top foreign policy aide, about the mood ahead of talks on Tuesday local time.
“We will see. The most important thing right now is to begin a real normalization of relations between us and Washington,” Ushakov told Popov on the tarmac.
Musk, who donated 20,000 Starlink internet terminals to Ukraine in 2022, has since advocated against further escalation between Russia and the US. “We are sleepwalking our way into World War III with one foolish decision after the other,” Musk said in 2023.
The meeting on Tuesday will be the first in-person US-Russian negotiations since Moscow launched its military operation in Ukraine in 2022.
While the administration of former US President Joe Biden pursued a policy of “isolating” Russia on the world stage, Trump has vowed to quickly mediate an end to the conflict and criticized his predecessor for abandoning diplomacy in favor unconditional military support for Kiev. President Vladimir Putin said last year that the campaign to isolate Russia “has failed,” given Moscow’s deepening ties with major economies outside of Europe and North America, including China, India, and Brazil.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammd bin Salman on Monday and is expected to meet with Lavrov.
Trump spoke with Putin over the phone on February 12, angering Ukraine’s EU backers, who were blindsided by the conversation.
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has said Kiev will “not recognize” any negotiations that take place without his approval. He acknowledged, however, that Ukraine has a “low chance” of winning without American support.
