p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Times New Roman'; -webkit-text-stroke: #000000} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 16.0px 'Times New Roman'; color: #101010; -webkit-text-stroke: #101010} span.s1 {font-kerning: none} span.s2 {text-decoration: underline ; font-kerning: none; color: #347ab7; -webkit-text-stroke: 0px #347ab7} President Vladimir Putin on Sept. 16 said Moscow was ready to help defend Saudi Arabia if Riyadh buys Russian weapons. Speaking at a press conference following trilateral talks with the leaders of Turkey and Iran in Ankara, Putin discussed the latest attacks on Saudi oil facilities and presented the Saudis with a choice.

He said  Russia was prepared to help Saudi Arabia defend itself and that the Saudi political leadership "just needs to make a wise state decision, as did Iran by purchasing our S-300s and President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan of Turkey by acquiring the S-400 missile system.” Putin added, “The systems will defend any Saudi facilities.”

Why it matters: Putin’s offer was of course largely about trolling the US-Saudi military relationship and multibillion dollar arms contracts that don’t seem to have materialized in stronger defensive capabilities.

“I believe it was more of a political gesture, yet sources in Russian military-technical circles speak about the possibility of indeed selling something to Riyadh,” Ilya Kramnik, a leading Russian military analyst with the Izvestia newspaper, told Al-Monitor.