presented by BP.

Good morning, everyone. I am Chief Playbook correspondent Eugene Daniels. It is Tuesday, February

18th. Here is what's driving the day. The biggest story in Washington today didn't even

happen in Washington at all. Today in Saudi Arabia, a small group of

top Trump administration officials will meet with their Russian counterparts. At stake, the potential

end of Russia's war in Ukraine, the future of Europe, and charting a new trajectory for U.S.

Russian relations. Here to chat with me now about what to watch during those talks in Saudi Arabia is a man fresh off the plane from the Munich Security Conference. I'm very happy that he is here. National Security reporter Robbie Grammar, Robbie. Hello. Hey, Gene. Great to be here. U.E. I don't know how he convinced you to do this, right Like, literally right after the plane, so I appreciate it. You know, I'm just in this, this hazy jet lag state. So now's the time to get what people want from you. Yeah, exactly. And if the final version of this sounds very coherent, you'll know it's the producers editing it up. They do magic for me every single day.

So I feel you.

Let's start with the big picture here with these talks in Saudi Arabia.

Top officials for Russia, for the United States, are launching these talks basically about ending Russia's war in Ukraine.

But also, and this is according to the Russian government,

so you have to take it with the grain of assault, the future of the United States and their

relationship with Russia. So talk to us a little bit, what's that stake here for Russia,

the U.S. and Ukraine, who, interestingly enough, is not invited to this summit about the future

of their own country. My colleague, Paul, and I scooped that this summit about the future of their own country.

My colleague, Paul and I scooped that this trip over the weekend when we were in Munich,

that Secretary of State Rubio, National Security Vice President Mike Walts,

and Trump's Middle East peace envoy were traveling to Saudi Arabia to kickstart these talks with Russia.

At the time, American officials and even a

Republican congressman told us Ukraine was invited. When we went to the Ukrainians and asked for

comment ahead of our story, they were shocked. They were caught flat-footed. And so there was clearly

some miscommunication here that just adds to this palpable sense of unease and anxiety that that we saw

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