Saudi Arabia’s hosting of top American and Russian officials for a high-stakes rapprochement meeting underlines the kingdom’s aspirations to become a global actor capable of successfully mediating international conflicts.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia’s crown prince wasn’t in the room for the first high-level talks between Russia and the United States over Moscow’s war on Ukraine on Tuesday, but Mohammed bin Salman still won the day for hosting the gathering that could be a game-changer in the bloody conflict.

As Europeans talked the possibility of contributing peacekeepers to back any Ukraine peace deal, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also said in Riyadh that Moscow would not accept the deployment of NATO troops there,