Russia and Saudi Arabia have struck a number of deals, including contracts for Russian weapons, as part of a groundbreaking first visit by a Saudi monarch.
The Kremlin talks between Saudi King Salman and Russian president Vladimir Putin mark a thaw in relations between the countries, which have often been tense since the Cold War times when the kingdom supported Afghan rebels fighting the Soviet invasion in the 1980s.
Observers say Riyadh’s decision to boost ties with Moscow reflects the expanded clout Russia has won in the Middle East with its military blitz in Syria.
Relations between Saudi Arabia and Russia broke down over the kingdom’s support of the Afghans fighting the Sovier invasion in the 1980s (Alexei Nikolsky/AP)
And it shows the Saudis’ interest in keeping Russia signed up to a global deal to limit oil production and push up the price of their valuable crude exports.
Hosting the Saudi king in the ornate Kremlin interiors, Mr Putin hailed his visit as a “landmark event” that will give a “strong impulse” to bilateral ties.
Salman said he was looking to expand relations with “friendly nation” Russia “in the interests of peace, security and development of the world economy”.
Saudi Arabia Military Industries (SAMI) has announced agreement with Russia for procurement of S-400, Kornet-EM, TOS-1A, AGC-30 & AK-103
— Jeremy Binnie (@JeremyBinnie) October 5, 2017
The Saudi monarch noted that the two nations agree on many international and regional issues and intend to continue their efforts to shore up global oil prices.
Following the talks, Saudi Arabian Military Industries (Sami) said it signed agreements with Russia’s state arms trader, Rosoboronexport, for the purchase of cutting-edge Russian weapons, including the long-range S-400 air defence missile systems.
In line with Saudi Arabia’s intention to localise weapons production, the deals envisage the transfer of technology for the local production of Russian Kornet-EM anti-tank missiles, TOS-1A rocket launchers and AGS-30 automatic grenade launchers and the latest version of the Kalashnikov assault rifle.
The Saudis have bought long-range S-400 air defence missile systems from the Russians (Yuri Kadobnov/AP)
While the US has remained Saudi Arabia’s top weapons supplier and its most critical Western ally, Thursday’s deals highlighted Riyadh’s intention to expand ties with Russia.
The Saudis have also been eyeing Russian nuclear power technologies and appear ready to expand food imports from Russia, which is set to remain the world’s biggest wheat exporter this year.
Food security is a major concern for Saudi Arabia, which stopped local production of livestock feed and wheat due to water scarcity.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here