Pic: Qatar News Agency
Dubai, United Arab Emirates: A top Russian official who faces sanctions in the West over Moscow's war on Ukraine visited Saudi Arabia early Tuesday and held talks with his counterpart in the kingdom, state media reported.
Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev's visit to Riyadh came just days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed an Arab League summit held in Saudi Arabia's Red Sea port city of Jeddah on Friday. The visits underline how the kingdom and Gulf Arab states, traditionally the security clients of the United States, have been maintaining their relations with Moscow amid the Ukraine war.
The state-run Saudi Press Agency said Kolokoltsev met with Saudi Interior Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud.
"During the session, they discussed ways to enhance security cooperation paths between the two countries’ ministries of interior, in addition to discussing a number of issues of common interest,” the report said, without elaborating.
Russian media did not immediately report on the visit.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has tried to position the kingdom as a potential negotiator between Kyiv and Moscow to end the war.
"The kingdom is ready to continue mediating between Russia and Ukraine and to support all international efforts to end the crisis politically toward peace,” the prince told the Arab League summit on Friday.
