Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman discussed further cooperation on oil prices on Wednesday as members of OPEC+, a Kremlin spokesperson was quoted as saying.
A Saudi account of the meeting said the crown prince praised joint coordination between the two countries “that helped remove tensions in Middle East”.
Putin and the crown prince, de facto ruler of the world’s largest crude exporter, had the hastily arranged talks hours after the Kremlin leader visited Saudi Arabia’s Gulf neighbour, the United Arab Emirates.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, quoted by Russian news agencies, said cooperation would continue within OPEC+, which includes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies led by Russia.
The meeting took place after a fall in oil prices despite an OPEC+ pledge to cut output further.
“We talked again about cooperation in OPEC+,” Interfax news agency quoted Peskov as saying. “The parties agree that our countries bear a great responsibility for interaction in order to maintain the international energy market at the proper level, in a stable, predictable state.”
Putin, who has rarely left Russia since sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022, had also been expected to discuss Ukraine and the conflict in Gaza.
The Saudi Press Agency quoted the crown prince as saying: “We share many interests and many files that we are working on together for the benefit of Russia, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Middle East and the world as well.”
In remarks at the beginning of their talks, shown earlier on Russian television, Putin thanked MbS, as the crown prince is widely known, for his invitation. He had originally expected him to visit Moscow, “but there were changes to plans”.
Their next meeting should take place in Moscow, he said, and “Nothing can prevent the development of our friendly relations.”
Russia’s defence ministry had earlier shown the Kremlin chief’s Ilyushin-96 aircraft flanked by Sukhoi-35S fighter jets on its flight from Russia to the United Arab Emirates.
Putin’s delegation included top oil, economy, foreign affairs, space, nuclear energy officials and business leaders.