Billionaire Elon Musk's reaction to the US-Russia negotiations.
Billionaire Elon Musk, one of President Donald Trump's key allies, praised the appearance of the Russian delegation in Saudi Arabia ahead of the first direct talks between Russia and the US on Ukraine.
On February 18th, the owner of Tesla, SpaceX, and X reposted a Russian news item about the arrival of a delegation led by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Riyadh. “This is the epitome of competent leadership,” Musk wrote on X.
In a video shared by billionaire Musk, journalist Yevgeny Popov asked Yury Ushakov, President Vladimir Putin's top foreign policy aide, about his mood ahead of the February 19 talks. Ushakov replied to Popov right on the airport runway: "We'll see. The most important thing right now is to begin the process of genuinely normalizing relations between us and Washington."
Musk, who donated 20,000 Starlink devices to Ukraine in 2022, later spoke out against the escalating tensions between Russia and the US. "We are blindly rushing into World War III with a series of stupid decisions one after another," Musk said in 2023.
The meeting on February 19 will mark the first direct talks between Russia and the United States since Moscow launched its military operation in Ukraine in 2022.
While the Biden administration pursued a policy of "isolating" Russia internationally, President Donald Trump pledged to quickly mediate a permanent end to the conflict and criticized his predecessor for abandoning diplomacy in favor of unconditional military support for Kyiv.
President Vladimir Putin declared last year that the campaign to isolate Russia "has failed," as Moscow increasingly strengthened ties with major economies outside of Europe and North America, including China, India, and Brazil.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on February 17, and is expected to meet with his Russian counterpart Lavrov.
Earlier, President Trump had a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 12, angering Ukraine's EU allies who felt marginalized by the conversation.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky declared that Kyiv would "not recognize" any negotiations taking place without its approval. However, he also acknowledged that his government would have a "very low chance of winning" without support from the United States.
