Putin To Saudi Crown Prince: Russia Ready To Do Everything To Stabilize Mideast Crisis

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia is willing to do anything toward bringing stability to the Persian Gulf and Iran crises.  “Russia is counting on an early end to the conflict in the Middle East, and is ready to do everything to bring the situation back to normal,” Putin’s words were paraphrased in state media as telling Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, who was hosted at the Kremlin.

“We all hope that the conflict will be ended as soon as possible. Yesterday, the US President [Donald] Trump spoke about this. I repeat it again: For our part, we are ready to do everything to bring the situation back to normal, as they say in such cases, to a stable state,” Putin said.

“The situation in the region is of common concern to us,” Putin added. He also on the same day held a phone call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, where the Russian leader’s message was similar.

The Kremlin readout of the call indicated that “Both sides emphasized the need for a rapid cessation of hostilities and the intensification of political and diplomatic efforts to achieve a long-term settlement of the conflict.”

The timing of the Putin-MbS call is additionally interesting given Ukraine’s President Zelensky just did a tour of the Gulf states, seeking to deepen relations based on Ukraine selling small drone technology, capable of defending the skies against threats from Iran. He inked a deal with Riyadh for Ukrainian drone expertise.

According to a review of Ukraine’s latest Gulf deal-making in the NY Times:

In the Mideast conflict, Ukraine has sought to shift its image from a recipient of military aid to a supplier. It sees an opening to export its low-cost, innovative designs created during the war with Russia to compensate for shortages of weapons and ammunition. Ukraine’s military often relies on consumer technologies such as virtual-reality goggles for gamers and off-the-shelf drone components.

The agreements under negotiation with the United Arab Emirates and finalized with Qatar extend for 10 years, Mr. Zelensky told reporters on a conference call, and could be worth “billions.” He spoke from Qatar, one of the Persian Gulf states that has been targeted by Iranian drones.

In their call, Putin and Saudi Arabia’s crown prince further stressed that “problems with energy production and transportation resulting from the crisis are negatively impacting global energy security.”

Both were closely watching whether President Trump’s Wednesday night speech would wind down US operations against Iran. This did not happen, however, given Trump issued no timeline while assuring Iran would be hit very hard over at least the next two to three weeks.

But Moscow has still be seen as a beneficiary to the prolonged war, given the US lifted some oil sanctions, and prices have been pushed higher – which means more billions flowing into Russian state coffers.