Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, now a leader of the Future Movement, visited Moscow on March 30. The visit didn’t make front-page news, mostly because both sides kept a low profile.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Hariri family have a long-standing relationship, and the Kremlin press service seemed extremely reluctant to reveal details of the visit, stating in two sentences only that Hariri “paid a private visit.” 

However, the fact that Putin welcomed Hariri at the Kremlin is remarkable. It signals that the issues discussed were of profound meaning for Lebanon, Russia and a number of regional stakeholders.

Hariri has visited the Russian capital on several occasions: in August 2006 as the leader of the Lebanese parliamentary majority, in November 2010 as president of the Council of Ministers and in May 2015 during a series of top-level regional and international trips. Each time, Hariri met with high-ranking Russian authorities and business leaders to discuss extensive agendas, revolving mostly around his seeking Moscow’s mediation in the war-torn country, or soliciting Putin’s support for filling the presidential vacuum in Lebanon.