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.

Russia said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would hold talks with top U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on Tuesday that will focus on ending the war in Ukraine and restoring broader Russia-U.

The choice by the Trump administration of Saudi Arabia as the location for key talks on Ukraine underscores how far the Kingdom has come diplomatically from the near pariah state it became after the murder of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.