Saudi foreign minister did not dismiss Ukraine peace summit as a 'clown show'

Published on June 28, 2024 at 06:12
3 min read
By Tommy WANG, AFP Hong Kong

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan told world leaders at a Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland that any "credible process" needed Russia's involvement, but he did not describe it as a "clown show" and "meaningless" as Chinese social media posts claimed. Saudi Arabia was among several countries that maintain close ties with Moscow that did not endorse a joint communique issued at the summit after Russia was not invited.

The misleading claim was shared on Chinese social media platform Weibo on June 17, 2024 alongside a video of Prince Faisal speaking at the summit two days earlier.

China, which struck a "no-limits" strategic partnership with Moscow days before the February 2022 invasion, did not send a delegation to the conference in protest at Russia's exclusion.

The simplified Chinese post, viewed more than 190,000 times, read, "The foreign minister of Saudi Arabia said straight out in front of everyone at the 'peace summit' in Switzerland: 'This is a clown show, and without Russia's participation, this show is meaningless.'

"And he got a big round of applause."

In the clip, Prince Faisal says: "Any credible process will need Russia's participation. We hope the outcomes of this summit reflect those aims. Thank you."

Screenshot of the misleading Weibo post, captured on June 27, 2024

AFP reported that dozens of countries at the summit promoted by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky agreed that dialogue "between all parties" and respect for Ukraine's territorial integrity was a route to ending the war between Kyiv and Moscow.

The joint communique was not endorsed by some countries that maintain close ties with Moscow -- including Saudi Arabia, India and the United Arab Emirates -- after Russia was not invited.

China steered clear of the summit. It presents itself as a neutral party in the Ukraine war, and says it is not sending lethal assistance to either side, unlike the United States and other Western nations.

Similar claims were shared elsewhere on Weibo and on X in English here and here.

But Prince Faisal did not call the summit a "clown show" or say the talks were "meaningless" without Russia's participation.

Fabricated quote

Reverse image and keyword searches on Google led to the same clip, part of live-streamed footage of the June 15 meeting (archived link).

It was posted on the official YouTube channel of Ukrainian broadcaster UATV.

Prince Faisal begins speaking at the UATV video's 1:02:22 mark, but the clip misleadingly shared online corresponds to the section at its 1:04:58 mark.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the misleading posts (left) and the UATV's live-streamed footage (right):

Screenshot comparison of the video in the misleading posts (left) and the UATV's live-streamed footage (right)

While Prince Faisal concluded his remarks by saying, "Any credible process will need Russia's participation", he did not suggest the summit was "meaningless" or a "clown show".

He started by thanking Switzerland for inviting Saudi Arabia to the summit before saying the Gulf kingdom's participation was "in line with its long tradition as mediators and peacemakers".

He said it was committed to supporting "all efforts at reaching an end to this conflict and achieving sustainable and just peace and security".

But he warned that Kyiv would have to be prepared for a "difficult compromise" if it wanted to end the conflict.

While the summit's participants applauded Prince Faisal's remarks, they also applauded comments from several other state representatives, including Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

A clip of his speech was shared on the foreign ministry's official X account, and his remarks were covered by the state-owned Saudi Press Agency (archived links here and here).

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