© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech throughout a ceremony to obtain diplomatic credentials from newly appointed overseas ambassadors on the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Russia, December 4, 2023. Sputnik/Pavel Bednyakov/Pool by way of R
By Aziz El Yaakoubi and Vladimir Soldatkin
RIYADH (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin landed in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday for swiftly organized talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on oil, Gaza and Ukraine.
It was not instantly clear what Putin, who has hardly ever left Russia because the begin of the Ukraine conflict, intends to lift particularly about oil or geopolitics in a face-to-face assembly with the crown prince of the world’s largest crude exporter.
Putin’s assembly with MbS, because the prince is broadly identified, comes after oil costs fell regardless of a pledge by OPEC+, which teams the Group of the Petroleum Exporting Nations (OPEC) and allies led by Russia, to additional minimize output.
The Russian defence ministry confirmed the Kremlin chief’s Ilyushin-96 plane flanked by Sukhoi-35S fighter jets on its flight from Russia to the United Arab Emirates, his first cease.
In Abu Dhabi, President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan welcomed his “dear friend” Putin, whereas UAE jets greeted him with a fly-past trailing the colors of Russia’s flag.
“Our relations, largely due to your position, have reached an unprecedentedly high level,” Putin informed him. “The UAE is Russia’s main trading partner in the Arab world.”
Putin mentioned Russia and the UAE cooperated as a part of OPEC+, whose members pump greater than 40% of the world’s oil, including that they’d focus on the Israeli-Hamas battle and Ukraine.
After the UAE, Putin flew to Saudi Arabia for his first face-to-face assembly with MbS since October 2019. His final go to to the area was in July 2022, when he met Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Iran.
The journey to satisfy MbS, solely days after a key OPEC+ assembly was delayed, appeared swiftly organized. One supply had informed Reuters beforehand that MbS had plans to go to Moscow.
The Russian delegation consists of high oil, financial system, overseas affairs, area and nuclear vitality officers.
Putin is because of host his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi in Moscow on Thursday.
PUTIN AND MBS
The Kremlin mentioned that in addition to oil, Putin and MbS would speak in regards to the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the state of affairs in Syria and Yemen, and points reminiscent of making certain stability within the Gulf, whereas an aide mentioned Ukraine would even be mentioned.
Putin and MbS, who collectively management one-fifth of the oil pumped every day, have lengthy loved shut relations, although each have at instances been ostracised by the West.
At a G20 summit in 2018, simply two month after the homicide of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in a Saudi consulate, Putin and MbS high-fived and shook arms with smiles.
MbS, 38, has sought to reassert Saudi Arabia as a regional energy with much less deference to america, which provides Riyadh with most of its weapons.
Putin, who despatched troops into Ukraine in February 2022, says Russia is engaged in an existential battle with the West – and has courted allies throughout the Center East, Africa, Latin America and Asia amid Western makes an attempt to isolate Moscow.
Each MbS and Putin, 71, need – and wish – excessive costs for oil – the lifeblood of their economies. The query for each, is how a lot of the burden every ought to tackle to maintain costs aloft – and the best way to confirm the burden.
OPEC+
Final month, OPEC+ delayed its assembly by a number of days resulting from disagreements over manufacturing ranges. Saudi’s vitality minister mentioned OPEC+ additionally needed extra assurances from Moscow it could make good on its pledge to cut back gasoline exports.
Relations between Saudi and Russia in OPEC+ have been uneasy at instances and a deal on cuts nearly broke down in March 2020, however the two managed to patch up their relations inside weeks and OPEC+ agreed to file cuts of virtually 10% of worldwide demand.
Since conflict broke out between Israel and Hamas in October, Putin has forged the battle as a failure of U.S. coverage within the Center East and has fostered ties with Arab allies and Iran, in addition to with the militant Palestinian group.