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Bin Salman has met Putin several times since his father took the throne
The former Soviet Union was the first country to recognize Saudi rule following King Abdulaziz bin Saud seized the Hejaz, and when his forces entered the city of Jeddah in 1926, there was a Soviet consulate working in the city, and the consul conveyed his country’s recognition of the new rule.
But the Russian-Saudi relations did not develop much during the following decade, as Britain had a strong influence in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, and was very keen to keep the Soviets away from the region under the pretext of preventing the spread of communist ideas in it, which led in 1938 to sever relations between the two sides with The emergence of the harbinger of World War II.
After the discovery of huge quantities of oil in Saudi Arabia by American companies, the Kingdom’s position was strengthened in geopolitical terms, and the United States became its most important trade and economic partner.
During the Cold War phase that followed World War II, Saudi Arabia was afraid of the “communist tide” in the region and was siding with the Western camp in the face of the communist camp.
The increasing Soviet support for leftist regimes in the region, such as South Yemen and Egypt during the Nasserist era, and the regime of Mangistu Haile Mariam in Ethiopia, as well as Moscow’s support for leftist movements and parties in the region, represented a major concern for Saudi Arabia with conservative religious orientations and pro-Western at that time.
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 marked a turning point in the relations of the two countries, as Saudi Arabia played a prominent role in the “Afghan jihad” once morest the Soviet forces. Thousands of Arab jihadists, including many Saudis, flocked to Pakistan from there to neighboring Afghanistan, to fight the Russian forces, who were eventually forced to withdraw humiliatingly from that country following a decade, with huge losses in personnel and equipment.
Diplomatic relations between the two countries were restored in 1990 following the collapse of the Soviet Union, but they did not witness a noticeable development or improvement in more than a quarter of a century despite the high-level exchange of visits between the two countries.
photo released, AFP Contributor
In 2017, King Salman paid a visit to Russia, the first of its kind for a Saudi monarch
turning point
In 2015, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, and the meeting marked a turning point in the relations of the two countries.
The two countries opened a new page in their relations that included many files, and a number of agreements were signed covering various fields such as nuclear energy, especially following Saudi Arabia announced its intention to build 16 nuclear reactors for peaceful purposes and energy and water sources, and activate the joint committee for military and space cooperation, in addition to To cooperation agreements in the field of housing, energy and investment opportunities.
In 2017, King Salman bin Abdulaziz visited Russia, and the visit was the first for a Saudi king to Russia. The visit resulted in the signing of cooperation agreements between the two parties, the most important of which is an agreement to manufacture some Russian weapons in Saudi Arabia.
Last year, Saudi Arabia concluded a military agreement with Russia aimed at developing areas of joint military cooperation between the two countries, according to what was announced by Saudi Deputy Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, on the sidelines of the International Military-Technical Forum “Army 2021” exhibition.
There is no doubt that the expansion of cooperation in the military field between the two countries raises more questions regarding the nature of the Saudi orientation in this field. The Kingdom has relied on Western weapons since it was born, led by the American weapons, which constitute 79 percent of Saudi military purchases, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, and in turn represent regarding 24 percent of American arms exports.
photo released, FAYEZ NURELDINE
Saudi Arabia gets regarding 80% of its military purchases from the United States
The cooperation between Moscow and Riyadh also led to the establishment of what is known as the OPEC Plus; The two countries agreed to reduce oil production in 2016, following the drop in oil prices, and this file is the largest area of joint cooperation between the two countries.
Saudi Arabia believes that Russia’s cooperation is necessary to achieve stability in the energy market, as confirmed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2019.
This cooperation has resulted in raising the price of oil and the importance of coordination between the two sides in this field has increased following the turmoil in the energy market and the rise in oil and gas prices to unprecedented levels, following Western countries imposed extensive sanctions on Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine.
Western countries tried to compensate for the shortfall in Russian oil supplies to the European continent due to the European Union’s decision to restrict its purchases of Russian oil, by asking Saudi Arabia to increase production, which Riyadh dealt with in a pragmatic and practical manner.
The Saudi openness to Russia was not the result of the moment. Rather, it passed through multiple stages, and the beginning was with the arrival of US President Barack Obama to the White House in 2009, when the United States reformulated its priorities in the region, and among the new directions was ending the stage of long American wars abroad, and avoiding Involvement in foreign conflicts and wars, and the American withdrawal from Iraq, which paved the way for Iran to consolidate its influence in Iraq and has the final say in ruling that country.
This coincided with the negotiations that the P5+1 group entered into with Iran regarding the Iranian nuclear program, and ended with the conclusion of an agreement between this group and Iran in 2015, in which sanctions were lifted from Tehran in exchange for placing Iran’s nuclear activities under international control.
Saudi Arabia sees Iran, which seeks to consolidate its influence and regional presence, as its traditional opponent. According to Saudi Arabia, the agreement gave Iran a free hand to increase its activities and enhance its influence following it recovered tens of billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets abroad. Saudi Arabia, other Gulf states, and Israel criticized the agreement for ignoring Iran’s troublesome and chaotic activities in the region by supporting political and military forces in its orbit, and considered that Washington gave Tehran a free hand to increase its activities in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq.
Thus, the step of opening up to Russia came following Saudi Arabia felt that the United States might not be completely relied upon to ensure its security, and that it was an unreliable partner, as it saw that the Russian military intervention in Syria to protect the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from falling is an example of a strategic alliance. And that Russia has gained a greater weight and role in the region, and that it is in its interest to strengthen cooperation with it instead of putting all its eggs in Washington’s basket.
photo released, Getty Images
The Ukrainian crisis provided an opportunity for Mohammed bin Salman to return to the international political arena
The tension that prevailed in relations between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Western leaders over the file of the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in his country’s consulate in Istanbul in 2018, led to an acceleration of cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Russia, which do not top the issues of human rights, freedom of opinion and the media on its list of priorities. .
In the wake of the massive media campaign once morest the Saudi crown prince in the Western media and accusing him of being involved in giving orders to kill Khashoggi, all Western politicians avoided meeting or talking to the Saudi crown prince, unlike the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, who shook hands with him warmly during the G-20 summit in Argentina in November / November 2018.
Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, last February, contacts between Western leaders and Putin, whose country is now living under the weight of the harshest sanctions that can be imposed on a country, have ceased. In return, contacts and meetings between Russian officials and their Saudi counterparts, led by Crown Prince Muhammad, have continued. Bin Salman, where more than one contact took place between him and Putin, the last of which was on July 21.
There is no doubt that Russia will not replace the United States in the field of providing weapons and military assistance to Saudi Arabia and a strategic partnership with it, but the relationship with Russia provides Riyadh a margin for political maneuvering and a kind of balance in foreign relations instead of betting only on the United States.
The Saudi desire to diversify the sources of weapons and reduce dependence on the United States of America gives it more flexibility and space to act according to its interests in light of the United States of America reducing its presence in the Middle East and the prospects of reaching an agreement to revive the Iranian nuclear agreement, and thus Tehran increases its area of influence in the region Which Saudi Arabia sees as a source of great danger to its interests.
The Ukrainian crisis and its great repercussions on the global economy represented a valuable opportunity for Saudi Arabia to overcome the repercussions of the Khashoggi murder, and the West was ready to turn the page in exchange for Saudi cooperation in alleviating the energy crisis that threatens the global economy. Red to fursh the Saudi crown prince in western capitals.
