MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Saudi Arabia on Monday for talks on oil and tensions between Riyadh and Tehran, exacerbated by a recent attack on Saudi oil infrastructure, the Kremlin said.
The planned visit is the first by Putin since 2007 and will include a meeting with Saudi King Salman as well as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Kremlin’s top foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov said on Thursday.
The “long-awaited” visit will include discussions on “further cooperation to stabilize prices on the world carbohydrate market” as well as the situation in Syria, the Gulf and Yemen.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude exporter, is the leading member of OPEC, which has been cooperating with Russia to cap oil production in a bid to keep prices from falling too low.
Russia’s sovereign wealth fund Russian Direct Investment Fund said that it will announce more than 10 agreements during the visit totaling more than $2 billion.