During the Cold War, some people considered extremely serious in Saudi Arabia called Russian leaders 'Godless Communists'.

It was unimaginable then that a Russian leader would have been wholeheartedly welcomed in Saudi Arabia but things have changed a lot now and this week Russian President Vladimir Putin was given a strong welcome there.

He was given a salute of 12 guns. King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud and Crown Prince Mohammed bin-Salman were also present at the ceremony.

The US left the Kurds in northern Syria. Subsequently, Saudi Arabia entered into several bilateral agreements with Russia and also reviewed the regional situation.

So, is Saudi Arabia now approaching Russia? What is the main reason for this?

Russia's President Putin visited Saudi Arabia for the first time in his 12-year term. The tour was as unprecedented as it was widely publicized.

He was accompanied by a large delegation of trade, security and defense officials, who signed bilateral deals worth $ 2 billion and more than 20 agreements were announced in the meantime.

Saudi Arabia also invited Russia to join the ongoing international investigation into the drone strikes on the state oil company Aramco on 14 September.

In defense matters, there was also potential discussion on the purchase and future deployment of Russia's air defense missile S-400, which is a diplomatic setback for the US.

When Turkey signed a deal with Russia to buy the S-400 missile defense system in 2017, the US said that if Turkey does so, it will cancel the F-35 warfare deal.

If Turkey went ahead with its deal with Russia in the past, then the US has canceled the F35 deal with it.

Bilateral trade between Saudi Arabia and Russia has increased since June 2018, and global oil prices have risen recently following cooperation between the two to ban oil production.

During this visit of Vladimir Putin, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has also made announcements regarding investment.

All of these indicate a warm-up in relations between Saudi Arabia and Russia, which had been at odds with the Afghan Mujahideen in the 1980s.

So what is the reason behind the growing relationship between Russia and Saudi Arabia?

To put it frankly, today Saudi Arabia is no longer confident of America and the countries of the west as it used to be earlier.

But this also does not mean that he has started trusting Russia. But Saudi Arabian think tanks are rethinking this over the past decade of events in the Middle East.

The biggest setback came from Arab Spring Protest 2011. When US pressure exerted the power of Hosni Mubarak, the President of Egypt for three decades, it took awe in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf kingdoms.

On the contrary, they could not even notice that Russia stands in support of the besieged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The next setback came when the then US President Barack Obama supported the Iran nuclear deal in 2015. Saudi Arabia was very uncomfortable with this. He feared, which is true that the Obama administration is losing interest in the Middle East.

He was delighted when newly elected President Donald Trump chose Saudi Arabia for his first overseas tour in 2017. His relations with the US seemed to be back on track when deals worth billions of dollars were announced.

But in October 2018, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashozzi was murdered by agents of the Saudi government when it was widely criticized worldwide.

The leaders of the West began to distance him from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's suspected involvement in it. They were isolated at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires. But here Putin met him with great enthusiasm.

Although US President Trump advocated a good relationship with the Saudi leadership, the Arab administration is still disappointed with America's unpredictable and impractical approach to the region.

This week, Saudi Arabia's Ambassador to Britain, Prince Khalid bin Banader, described Turkey's incursion into northern Syria as a 'disaster'.

Asked about the heat in relations with Russia, he said that "Russia understands the countries of the East better than the Western countries."

During eight years of civil war in Syria, Russia has helped save the Assad regime. He not only showcased his modern military weapons but has also spread strategic legs as well.

The US sold military equipment to Saudi Arabia Air Defense, which failed to stop the drone strikes on Aramco on 14 September. Relations between the US and Saudi have been uneasy even after the Khashoji murder case.

Saudi and its Gulf allies are trying to reduce their dependence on the West.

All these events need to be seen in one perspective.

The US is still the main security partner of Saudi Arabia. It began in 1945 with a meeting of US President Franklin Roosevelt and Saudi King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud on an American warship.

When Saudi Arabia guaranteed to maintain its oil supply in the future, the US provided security. But even after that agreement, the situation remained muted.

Today, the US military has bases in all six Arab countries of the Gulf. The fifth fleet of the US Navy, headquartered in Bahrain, is the most powerful army in the region.

When Trump came to Saudi Arabia, a deal worth over $ 100 billion was announced. Only two billion dollar agreements have been signed with Putin this week.

But there is no doubt that the structures of alliances in the Middle East are not only shaken but are undergoing a lot of changes. Russia and China are expected to visit more in Saudi Arabia in the coming time.

America is still a major ally sitting at Saudi's table, but now many more guests are sitting around it.

(Click here for Android APP of IBTN. You can follow us on facebook and Twitter)

Share This News

About sharing