Translated material
Royal route
Arab monarchs are waiting for help from Putin
Yesterday it was officially announced that on February 11, Vladimir Putin will go on a three-day visit to the Arab monarchies. This news coincided with the arrival in Moscow of the Secretary of the Saudi National Security Council, Prince Bandar bin Sultan. It is clear that his main goal is to prepare the first visit of a Russian leader to the kingdom in the history of our relations. However, the Saudis, concerned about the growing influence of Shiite Iran in the region, are probing Moscow not only with a view to expanding cooperation.Riyadh does not like the way Tehran behaves in Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. The Saudis suspect that, largely due to Iranian intervention, the Iraqis are already mired in a civil war, and the Lebanese are about to slide into it. The Royal House of Saudi Arabia hopes to enlist the support of Russia in regional affairs, which, unlike the United States, maintains friendly relations with Iran. This desire is so great that the Saudis promise to develop cooperation with Russia and are even preparing contracts for the purchase of modern Russian-made weapons, although the kingdom traditionally buys weapons in the West, primarily from the United States.
The Russians and Saudis have similar assessments of what is happening in the region. Thus, the Arabs consider the instability in Iraq to be a consequence of the miscalculations of the Bush administration, which started the Gulf War in 2003 to overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussein. The Vremya Novostey columnist heard the same point of view in the corridors of the Kremlin, where even greater unrest in Iraq is predicted, and the sharp rise of Iran is explained by the “gross mistakes of the United States,” which was too zealous in implementing its romantic plan to create a new democratic Greater Middle East .
Prince Bandar spoke about all this yesterday with the Secretary of the Russian Security Council, Igor Ivanov, who had just returned from Iran. The prince was also supposed to meet with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. In the morning, journalists gathered on Smolenskaya Square were waiting for Bandar in the hope of asking him a couple of questions, but were disappointed by the news that His Highness had suddenly fallen ill and negotiations with the minister, who was soon leaving for a visit to the United States, were cancelled. Among the reporters, as expected, there was an alarming rumor about the “political background” of the disease: what if there were disagreements? But VN data shows that the explanation was true: in unusually frosty Moscow, the 58-year-old prince felt ill and was forced to miss the morning meeting.
By the afternoon, the prince found the strength to meet not only with Igor Ivanov, but also with the famous Lebanese politician, leader of the parliamentary majority Saad Hariri, who yesterday also held talks at the Russian Security Council. 36-year-old Saad Hariri is the son of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, whose motorcade was blown up by unknown terrorists in Beirut in February 2005 (an international investigation into this murder is currently underway).
Hariri Sr. began his career as a successful businessman who established strong ties with the royal family of Saudi Arabia. His son maintained good relations with Riyadh, so it is not surprising that the Lebanese Saad Hariri and the Saudi Bandar bin Sultan, who arrived in Moscow for the day, held a friendly meeting in the Russian capital. According to VN, late last night they had dinner together.
In an interview with Vremya Novostei, Saad Hariri said that both the kingdom and Russia have initiatives to resolve the situation in Lebanon. Their essence boils down to establishing a dialogue between the government, formed by the parliamentary majority, and the opposition represented by the Shiite group Hezbollah. “We are completely in favor of such a dialogue,” Mr. Hariri told VN. He added that many problems in the region are caused by the negative influence of Syria and Iran. “These countries call themselves allies of Russia. If only they still listened to Moscow’s advice,” our interlocutor complained. He highly appreciated Russia's role in the region and thanked our country for its assistance in restoring Lebanon's infrastructure, destroyed due to the war with Israel last summer. Saad Hariri shared another secret with our newspaper - it turns out that from Russia he will not go straight to Lebanon, but just to Saudi Arabia.
And already on Sunday, February 11, Vladimir Putin will be expected in the kingdom. In three days, the Russian president will visit three Arab monarchies: Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan. Yesterday, Vladimir Putin called his old friend, Jordanian King Abdullah II and, before discussing his upcoming visit, congratulated His Majesty on his 45th birthday.