7 December 2023; MEMO: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince, Mohammed Bin Salman, has praised the Kingdom’s relationship and coordination with Russia as having “helped remove tensions in the Middle East”, as the two oil giants continue to advance relations and steer global oil markets.
In a visit to Saudi Arabia by Russian President, Vladimir Putin, yesterday, which came after his short visit to the Kingdom’s neighbour, the United Arab Emirates, he discussed with Saudi Crown Prince Bin Salman a number of issues, most of which remain private but largely encompassed the war in Ukraine and oil production in regards to the Organisation of Petroleum Producing Countries (OPEC+).
According to Russia’s Interfax news agency, Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, stated that “We talked again about cooperation in OPEC+”, in which both “parties agree that our countries bear a great responsibility for interaction in order to maintain the international energy market at the proper level, in a stable, predictable state.”
Following the visit and talks, the state-run Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted Bin Salman as telling Putin that “We share many interests and many files that we are working on together for the benefit of Russia, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia the Middle East and the world as well”, saying that the advancing coordination between Riyadh and Moscow has already “helped remove tensions in the Middle East”.
The Saudi Crown Prince’s praise of his Kingdom’s relationship with Russia comes at a time when the United States’ influence in the region is perceived as declining in the face of the growing influence of Russia and China in the Middle East and the region’s countries, even long-standing US allies such as Saudi Arabia.
