Call it what you like, but the brewing relations between Saudi Arabia and Russia are sure to perk the ears of many who thought an entente between the two countries would be near impossible due to cultural, religious, political and economic schisms. But it’s happening, and happening in rapid doses and in spite of the fact that the recent meeting between Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow may have come unstuck before it even started. It was only to be expected that Saudi Arabia would stand by its views on the removal of Bashar Al Assad, and that Russia would continue to see the Syrian regime as being part of any peace settlement in that country.
In all honesty, it would have been a miracle if there had been a “blueprint” for a solution to all the troubles in Syria in just one diplomatic endeavour, as the brutal civil war in the country has been ongoing for more than four years. What can be considered more important is that the Saudis and Russians are talking and they have agreed to back the opposition forces against the pernicious rabble-rousers of Daesh (the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) who have taken over large chunks of Syria.
The Moscow meeting has to be seen as part of a diplomatic effort coming after the Qatar meeting in early August where the two foreign ministers were involved in chit-chat with the US Secretary of State John Kerry on the best ways to solve the Syrian crisis, and the Saudi-led action against the nefarious Al Houthis in Yemen.
For Saudi Arabia, the move towards Russia is an exploration of the kingdom’s options, a move towards finding new friends. Under King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, the kingdom has a more robust foreign policy, and is widening its network of relations. America’s nuclear deal with Iran surely heralded this new realisation. It’s no secret that Riyadh did not approve of the nuclear deal.
It’s a throwback to the non-aligned movement of the 1950s when developing countries sought the best of both worlds as they tried to strike a balance between the US and the then Soviet Union to see how much they could get out of each superpower, and sought to play one against the other. The Saudi diplomacy got rolling in April and May, and peaked in June when Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Naif, and Defence Minister Mohammad Bin Salman attended the St Petersburg Economic Summit, sending a clear signal to Russia that Saudi Arabia was interested in strengthening relations.
Changing times
Indeed Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, on behalf of King Salman, invited President Vladimir Putin to visit Saudi Arabia and accepted an invitation for the Saudi monarch to visit Russia sometime at the end of this year.
These are more than just diplomatic chitchats. They reflect the changing times in the international system. They show the changes in how states and traditional allies are seeing each other, seeking to build more dynamic man-oeuvrability and see what they can get for themselves.
However, it would be far too simplistic and naïve to suggest Saudi foreign policy is moving 180 degrees to the east. There are definitely greater opportunities in terms of technical cooperation, exchange of expertise and benefits of uniting in the face of low oil prices affecting Saudi Arabia and Russia. But the ground realities are a bit different.
Despite the fact that Russia was the first country to recognise Saudi Arabia in 1926, the kingdom has always been seen as operating within the western orbit and has built strong diplomatic, political and economic links with the US and Europe over the years. Although during his Russian visit Prince Mohammad Bin Salman expressed an interest in buying Russian military equipment and hardware, the fact is that 80 per cent of Saudi armaments originate in America and both countries still enjoy deep relations. Riyadh’s ties with Moscow, on the other hand, have been checkered at best and sometimes cut off. And America has backed Saudi Arabia’s intervention in Yemen.
There is a new perspective emerging on how Saudi Arabia is looking at the world. Although the eyes are now focused to its north — Russia — China is getting a fair amount of interest; the present king visited the country when he was crown prince during the last days of king Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz’s reign.
Saudi foreign policy is becoming more sophisticated and flexible towards meeting the needs of the nation. We must keep watching to see how things develop. The last meeting in Moscow is surely a future sign of bilateral relations, and relations in the Middle East, with little windows of opportunities built in for ending the Syrian conflict, the Yemeni one and even on the subject of Iran.
Marwan Asmar is a commentator based in Amman. He has long worked in journalism and has a PhD in Political Science from Leeds University in the UK.
