On September 6, 2016, in Moscow the Russian International Affairs Council and Saudi Center for Media and Arab-Russian Studies held a roundtable with participation of key Russian experts and researchers from MGIMO, Higher School of Economics, RAS Institute for Oriental Studies, IMEMO, Russian Institute for Strategic Research and RIAC. The event was moderated by Director of Arab and Islamic Studies at RAS Institute for Oriental Studies Vasily Kuznetsov.
The discussants focused on interaction between...
Russia’s foreign policy in the Middle East is a multidimensional endeavour, which calls for something akin to strategic relations to be built with influential regional actors. Pursuing a partnership with Saudi Arabia is a comprehensive task for the Russian Federation. Saudi Arabia is a leading country in the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) and, like Russia, it is a serious player on the global oil market. Changes in the region ...
... released a statement in May that called upon Muslims worldwide to make Ramadan “a month of calamity everywhere for non-believers”.
A string of attacks carried out by Islamic State fighters throughout the Middle East rocked Turkey, Iraq and Saudi Arabia in the final days of the holy month of Ramadan. The devastating suicide bomb attack in a predominantly Shia area of Baghdad that took 292 lives was shocking in its barbarity but was not surprising in its nature. The Islamic State that claims ...
... of regional security in the Middle East has recently become a favorite discussion topic, but also because the Jeddah-based Gulf Research Center is chaired by businessman Abdulaziz bin Othman bin Sager. He is considered to be close to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s security establishment, and while his views are not fully same as the royal court’s, they are at least pretty close.
Since the source text has been published in Arabic, we thought it expedient to summarize its key points and ...
... Middle East in the existing borders and to stabilize the environment, since its deterioration will threaten Algeria, which is something Russia is also trying to achieve.
Yemen
In actuality, Algeria’s stance runs counter to the plans of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and certain Western states. For instance, in 2015 the Algerian government effectively
disrupted Riyadh’s schemes
to send a “joint Sunni army” to Yemen to fight against the pro-Iranian Houthis.
By doing so Algeria obviously ...
1. Introduction
Oil prices have declined significantly since the middle of 2014, causing significant concern among major oil exporters, among the Russia and the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC; Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE). There have been significant calls for cooperation between the GCC states, other OPEC members, and Russia, with the goal of stabilizing oil prices. Whether or not a substantive agreement emerges remains to be seen. One of the ...
Only a few believed that the meeting of oil producers held in Doha on April 17, 2016 would be so futile. It was largely due to the unyielding stance of Saudi Arabia that the participating countries failed to reach an agreement and left without any prospects of holding another round of talks. The document freezing oil production at the January 2016 level that was developed by experts from Russia, Saudi ...
... clear-cut even from the beginning. Understandably, all the regional powers were keeping a close look on the events even before the first shots had been fired. That was almost a given when considering the strategic position of Yemen at the border with Saudi Arabia and the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, a crucial passage for the maritime oil trade through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
Photo from: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/yemen4.htm
To continue to the more interesting angles,...
... cooperation between the two organizations.
During the meeting the sides discussed prospects for holding joint scientific and expert events. The Saudi side proposed to run this year a conference on the present stage of bilateral relations between Russia and Saudi Arabia. Such an initiative could contribute to discussing a wide range of obstacles that hinder multilateral cooperation between the two countries. Economic projects and the work of the media were noted as the key directions in this respect.
RIAC ...
... characteristics of crowdfunding schemes that change on a daily basis, much like markets that post profits and losses. Welcome to crowdfunding with the enemy. Here'show it works.
Reuters and CNN buzzed up a tenuous agreement between Russia and Saudi Arabia to freeze oil output at current “maximum” production levels( no reduction in production). But this initiative can't move forward without the approval of Iran, who want to increase production and earn hard currency. What ...
