Intel: What’s behind Putin’s arms sale proposal to Saudis
Putin's offer of defense missile systems for the Saudis was political but there's more to this in the runup to his visit to Riyadh.
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.
