Date: Wed, 28 Aug 2013 00:08:46 +0200
Russian President, Saudi Spy Chief Discussed Syria, Egypt
By <http://www.globalresearch.ca/author/global-research-news> Global
Research News
Global Research, August 27, 2013
Contradictions in the House of Saud: Separate City to be Built for Saudi
Women
A diplomatic report about the "stormy meeting" in July between Russian
President Vladimir Putin and Saudi intelligence chief
<http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2012/07/bandar-bin-sultanhead-of-s
audi-i.html> Prince Bandar bin Sultan concluded that the region stretching
from North Africa to Chechnya and from Iran to Syria - in other words, the
entire Middle East - has come under the influence of an open US-Russian
face-off and that "it is not unlikely that things [will] take a dramatic
turn in Lebanon, in both the political and security senses, in light of the
major Saudi decision to respond to Hezbollah's involvement in the Syrian
crisis."
The report starts by presenting the conditions under which the Russian-Saudi
meeting was convened. It states that Prince Bandar, in coordination with the
Americans and some European partners, proposed to Saudi King Abdullah bin
Abdul Aziz that Bandar visit Moscow and employ the carrot-and-stick
approach, which is used in most negotiators, and offer the Russian
leadership political, economic, military and security enticements in return
for concessions on several regional issues, in particular Syria and Iran.
http://www.al-monitor.com/files/live/sites/almonitor/files/contributed/jnt_n
ews_saudi-russia-putin-bandar-meeting-syria-egypt/RTR1SGHZ.jpg?t=thumbnail_5
78
King Abdullah agreed with the proposal and contacted President Putin on July
30. In a conversation that lasted only a few minutes, they agreed to
Bandar's visit and to keep it under wraps. Bandar arrived in Moscow. The
visit was secret. The Saudi Embassy did not follow the usual protocol for
Saudi officials visiting Russia.
In Moscow, a preliminary session was held at Russian military intelligence
headquarters between Bandar and the director of Russian Military
Intelligence, Gen. Igor Sergon. The meeting focused on security cooperation
between the two countries. Bandar then visited Putin's house on the
outskirts of the Russian capital, where they held a closed-door bilateral
meeting that lasted four hours. They discussed the agenda, which consisted
of bilateral issues and a number of regional and international matters in
which the two countries share interest.
Bilateral relations
At the bilateral level, Bandar relayed the Saudi king's greetings to Putin
and the king's emphasis on the importance of developing the bilateral
relationship. He also told Putin that the king would bless any understanding
reached during the visit. Bandar also said, however, that "any understanding
we reach in this meeting will not only be a Saudi-Russian understanding, but
will also be an American-Russian understanding. I have spoken with the
Americans before the visit, and they pledged to commit to any understandings
that we may reach, especially if we agree on the approach to the Syrian
issue."
Bandar stressed the importance of developing relations between the two
countries, saying that the logic of interests can reveal large areas of
cooperation. He gave several examples in the economic, investment, oil and
military arenas.
Bandar told Putin,
"There are many common values and goals that bring us together, most notably
the fight against terrorism and extremism all over the world. Russia, the
US, the EU and the Saudis agree on promoting and consolidating international
peace and security. The terrorist threat is growing in light of the
phenomena spawned by the Arab Spring. We have lost some regimes. And what we
got in return were terrorist experiences, as evidenced by the experience of
the
<http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/08/muslim-brotherhood-ban-eg
ypt-terrorist-list.html> Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the extremist
groups in Libya. . As an example, I can give you a guarantee to protect the
Winter Olympics in the city of Sochi on the Black Sea next year. The Chechen
groups that threaten the security of the games are controlled by us, and
they will not move in the Syrian territory's direction without coordinating
with us. These groups do not scare us. We use them in the face of the Syrian
regime but they will have no role or influence in Syria's political future."
Putin thanked King Abdullah for his greetings and Bandar for his exposition,
but then he said to Bandar,
"We know that you have supported the Chechen terrorist groups for a decade.
And that support, which you have frankly talked about just now, is
completely incompatible with the common objectives of fighting global
terrorism that you mentioned. We are interested in developing friendly
relations according to clear and strong principles."
Bandar said that the matter is not limited to the kingdom and that some
countries have overstepped the roles drawn for them, such as Qatar and
Turkey. He added,
"We said so directly to the Qataris and to the Turks. We rejected their
unlimited support to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and elsewhere. The
Turks' role today has become similar to Pakistan's role in the Afghan war.
We do not favor extremist religious regimes, and we wish to establish
moderate regimes in the region. It is worthwhile to pay attention to and to
follow up on Egypt's experience. We will continue to support the [Egyptian]
army, and we will support Defense Minister Gen.
<http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2013/07/sisi-egypt-morsi-ouster.ht
ml> Abdel Fattah al-Sisi because he is keen on having good relations with us
and with you. And we suggest to you to be in contact with him, to support
him and to give all the conditions for the success of this experiment. We
are ready to hold arms deals with you in exchange for supporting these
regimes, especially Egypt."
Economic and oil cooperation
Then Bandar discussed the potential cooperation between the two countries if
an understanding could be reached on a number of issues, especially Syria.
He discussed at length the matter of oil and investment cooperation, saying,
"Let us examine how to put together a unified Russian-Saudi strategy on the
subject of oil. The aim is to agree on the price of oil and production
quantities that keep the price stable in global oil markets. . We understand
Russia's great interest in the oil and gas present in the Mediterranean Sea
from Israel to Cyprus through Lebanon and Syria. And we understand the
importance of the Russian gas pipeline to Europe. We are not interested in
competing with that. We can cooperate in this area as well as in the areas
of establishing refineries and petrochemical industries. The kingdom can
provide large multi-billion-dollar investments in various fields in the
Russian market. What's important is to conclude political understandings on
a number of issues, particularly Syria and Iran."
Putin responded that the proposals about oil and gas, economic and
investment cooperation deserve to be studied by the relevant ministries in
both countries.
Syria first
Bandar discussed the Syrian issue at length. He explained how the kingdom's
position had evolved on the Syrian crisis since the Daraa incident all the
way to what is happening today. He said,
"The Syrian regime is finished as far as we and the majority of the Syrian
people are concerned. [The Syrian people] will not allow President Bashar
al-Assad to remain at the helm. The key to the relations between our two
countries starts by understanding our approach to the Syrian issue. So you
have to stop giving [the Syrian regime] political support, especially at the
UN Security Council, as well as military and economic support. And we
guarantee you that Russia's interests in Syria and on the Mediterranean
coast will not be affected one bit. In the future, Syria will be ruled by a
moderate and democratic regime that will be directly sponsored by us and
that will have an interest in understanding Russia's interests and role in
the region."
Russia's intransigence is to Iran's benefit
Bandar also presented Saudi Arabia's views about Iran's role in the region,
especially in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, Bahrain and other
countries. He said he hoped that the Russians would understand that Russia's
interests and the interests of the Gulf states are one in the face of
Iranian greed and nuclear challenge.
Putin gave his country's position on the Arab Spring developments,
especially about what has happened in Libya, saying,
"We are very concerned about Egypt. And we understand what the Egyptian army
is doing. But we are very cautious in approaching what's happening because
we are afraid that things may slide toward an Egyptian civil war, which
would be too costly for the Egyptians, the Arabs and the international
community. I wanted to do a brief visit to Egypt. And the matter is still
under discussion."
Regarding Iran, Putin said to Bandar that Iran is a neighbor, that Russia
and Iran are bound by relations that go back centuries, and that there are
common and tangled interests between them. Putin said,
"We support the Iranian quest to obtain nuclear fuel for peaceful purposes.
And we helped them develop their facilities in this direction. Of course, we
will resume negotiations with them as part of the
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P5%2B1> 5P+1 group. I will meet with President
Hassan Rouhani on the sidelines of the Central Asia summit and we will
discuss a lot of bilateral, regional and international issues. We will
inform him that Russia is completely opposed to the UN Security Council
imposing new sanctions on Iran. We believe that the sanctions imposed
against Iran and Iranians are unfair and that we will not repeat the
experience again."
Erdogan to visit Moscow in September
Regarding the Turkish issue, Putin spoke of his friendship with Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan;
"Turkey is also a neighboring country with which we have common interests.
We are keen to develop our relations in various fields. During the
Russian-Turkish meeting, we scrutinized the issues on which we agree and
disagree. We found out that we have more converging than diverging views. I
have already informed the Turks, and I will reiterate my stance before my
friend Erdogan, that what is happening in Syria necessitates a different
approach on their part. Turkey will not be immune to Syria's bloodbath. The
Turks ought to be more eager to find a political settlement to the Syrian
crisis. We are certain that the political settlement in Syria is inevitable,
and therefore they ought to reduce the extent of damage. Our disagreement
with them on the Syrian issue does not undermine other understandings
between us at the level of economic and investment cooperation. We have
recently informed them that we are ready to cooperate with them to build two
nuclear reactors. This issue will be on the agenda of the Turkish prime
minister during his visit to Moscow in September."
Putin: Our stance on Assad will not change
Regarding the Syrian issue, the Russian president responded to Bandar,
saying, "Our stance on Assad will never change. We believe that the Syrian
regime is the best speaker on behalf of the Syrian people, and not those
liver eaters. During the Geneva I Conference, we agreed with the Americans
on a package of understandings, and they agreed that the Syrian regime will
be part of any settlement. Later on, they decided to renege on Geneva I. In
all meetings of Russian and American experts, we reiterated our position. In
his upcoming meeting with his American counterpart John Kerry, Russian
Foreign Minister
<http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/contents/articles/politics/2013/02/moscow-s
igns-of-hope-syria.html> Sergey Lavrov will stress the importance of making
every possible effort to rapidly reach a political settlement to the Syrian
crisis so as to prevent further bloodshed."
As soon as Putin finished his speech, Prince Bandar warned that in light of
the course of the talks, things were likely to intensify, especially in the
Syrian arena, although he appreciated the Russians' understanding of Saudi
Arabia's position on Egypt and their readiness to support the Egyptian army
despite their fears for Egypt's future.
The head of the Saudi intelligence services said that the dispute over the
approach to the Syrian issue leads to the conclusion that
"there is no escape from the military option, because it is the only
currently available choice given that the political settlement ended in
stalemate. We believe that the Geneva II Conference will be very difficult
in light of this raging situation."
At the end of the meeting, the Russian and Saudi sides agreed to continue
talks, provided that the current meeting remained under wraps. This was
before one of the two sides leaked it via the Russian press.
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