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On September 6, 2016, the Russian International Affairs Council held a roundtable on Russia’s cooperation with Persian Gulf states in solving statehood crises in the Middle East. Dr. Majed Al Turki, Director of the Saudi Centre for Media and Arab-Russian Studies (Saudi Arabia) commented on the pact between Russia and Saudi Arabia to stabilise the oil market.

On  September 6, 2016, the Russian International Affairs Council held a roundtable on Russias cooperation with Persian Gulf states in solving statehood crises in the Middle East. Dr. Majed Al Turki, Director of the Saudi Centre for Media and Arab-Russian Studies (Saudi Arabia) commented on the pact between Russia and Saudi Arabia to stabilise the oil market.

Russia and Saudi Arabia had long been unable to reach consensus on crude oil price stabilisation for quite a long time. What was the reason for the quite unexpected signing of the memorandum on the sidelines of the G20 summit?

First off, economic reasons must be noted, since Russia and Saudi Arabia are the largest crude oil producers. Not only does Russia extract immense amounts of oil, but it sells crude oil as well. Saudi Arabia, for its part, is the largest OPEC oil trader. Both countries suffered losses due to the current oil prices level, realizing that the situation was a result of activities by minor oil producing nations.

Two types of interest underpin the signing of the pact. First, both countries would benefit from crude price stabilization and, second, both Russia and Saudi Arabia are seeking to somewhat adjust the global economy development pace.

On the other hand, there is a political component as well. Russia and Saudi Arabia are facing similar political challenges on the international arena. Russia is actively involved in political processes in the Middle East and needs Saudi Arabia to further its interests in the region, while Saudi Arabia can also benefit from Russia’s presence in the Middle East.

Ahead of the memorandum signing, I heard an important remark made by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. In his address, Mohammad bin Salman (Saudi Minister of Defense and son of King Salman Al Saud — editor) spoke a lot about the common interests of Russia and Saudi Arabia. Vladimir Putin commented on that statement in the following way: We discussed all these issues at the previous meeting of the G20.  It appears that, despite all the discussions over a long period of time, neither side took any action. We have been taking proactive measures recently to improve bilateral relations. Therefore, it would be logical to ask ourselves the following question: “Will we be able to make up for the lost time or not?”’

Interviewed by Maria Smekalova, RIAC website editor.

 

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