Middle East media interviews Putin

POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Monday, October 14, 2019 20:33
VIEWED: 1159
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SIGNYM

Monday, October 14, 2019 12:48 AM

This transcript touches on Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iran, Libya, Syria and more. Impossible to put into an existing thread. I've read thru it and have some comments (a few of them snarky) but don't have time to interpolate all of them now, so I just added a few.

Quote:

FULL INTERVIEW: Russia will never be friends 'with one country against another' in the Middle East – Putin
13 Oct, 2019

Russia's President Vladimir Putin sat down with three Arab-language media, including RT Arabic, to discuss Russia's policies and ties in the Middle East and beyond, as well as a looming arms race with the US and NATO's expansion.

In advance of his visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates Vladimir Putin answered questions from Al Arabiya senior presenter Mohammed Tomaihi, Sky News Arabia senior presenter Mohannad Khatib and RT Arabic Public and Political Programmes Department Head Salam Musafir.

This is the full video and transcript of the interview. Key excerpts are available here, here and here.

*****

Mohammed Tomaihi, Al Arabiya: (retranslated): Dear viewers, welcome to this unique interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which we are recording in Sochi.

With me here today are Mr. Mohannad Khatib, a reporter at Sky News Arabia and Salam Musafir, a reporter at RT Arabic.

Thank you very much for this unique opportunity, considering your upcoming visit to Saudi Arabia.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: It is my pleasure. I think it is a good tradition to meet with a country’s media before visiting it.

As for the visit to Saudi Arabia, we attach great importance to it. It is, in a sense, a return visit after the visit by King of Saudi Arabia, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, to Russia. It was the first, historic visit. We consider it historic, and it really is.

There is one more thing that I believe is important to note. In Soviet times, relations between Saudi Arabia and the Soviet Union were at a rather low level. In recent years, the quality of our relations has changed dramatically. We consider Saudi Arabia a friendly nation.

I have very good relations with both the King and the Crown Prince. We have been making good headway practically in all fields.

I will start with the economy.

Whose? Russia's? Saudi Arabia's? Their joint ventures?

Quote:
There is still a lot to be done, but we have set a good pace. Last year it was up 15%. In the first six months of 2019 growth was as high as 38%. We are considering some good joint projects. Our Direct Investment Fund and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia have jointly established a $10 billion platform. $2 billion have already been invested. Work is underway on other projects, and some promising and interesting projects have already been implemented.

We also consider it possible to operate on the territory of Saudi Arabia. One of our companies is exploring the possibility of building a petrochemical facility with investments of more than $1 billion. It is SIBUR Holding, Russia’s largest company in this sector.

We are fostering a partnership in the trust-based, sensitive area of military and defence cooperation. We have been negotiating for a long time.

Equally important are our joint efforts to resolve the regional crises. In this regard, I would like to emphasise the positive role Saudi Arabia has played in resolving the Syrian crisis.

Oh baloney!!!

Quote:
We are working especially closely with Turkey and Iran, as you all know. But I believe that without Saudi Arabia’s contribution towards a Syrian settlement, it would have been impossible to achieve a positive trend. Therefore, I would like to express our gratitude to both the King and the Crown Prince for this constructive approach. I am confident that my visit will help to build up the momentum both in developing bilateral relations and enhancing cooperation in international organisations.

Mohannad Khatib, Sky News Arabia: (retranslated): Mr. President, thank you very much once again f

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JEWELSTAITEFAN

Monday, October 14, 2019 2:27 AM

Can you post the original linky?

And/or the links to "Key excerpts are available here here and here"

SIGNYM

Monday, October 14, 2019 8:17 PM

Original linky
https://www.rt.com/russia/official-word/470833-putin-arabic-media-inte
rview/

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Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

You idiots have been oppressing the entire sexual spectrum as long as you have existed. I can't wait for the day your kind is dead - WISHIMAY

SIGNYM

Monday, October 14, 2019 8:33 PM

I have been trying to get a sense of Russia's foreign policy, which keeps surprising me at almost every turn. Clearly, they're working from a different playbook than we are.

I "get" that they have determined to be Fortress Russia ... that they have taken all necessry steps to be as independent from the West economically, financially, culturally, cybernetically, politically, ethically, and communication-wise. They've shed their dollar-denomiated loans, dumped USA Treasuries, stocked up on gold, gotten off the SWIFT, ramped up their food production and manufacturing, developed a strategic partnership with China, etc.

But their foreign policy actions have been (for me) unpredictable. They make deals with nations that have a history of being treacherous, have always been reliable contract partners and never subject their contracts to political considerations even under extreme provocation (Like their continued gas transit deal with Ukraine which ends at the end of this year. They have continued to supply gas thru Ukraine despite the fact that Ukraine owes them three billion dollars and refuses to pay, and despite the fact that Kiev has been thieving gas out of the pipeline and allowing the infrastruture to deteriorate.)

Somehow, they maintain positive relations with Israel Turkey and Saudi Arabia even while militarily supporting Syria.

In this interview I see extremely fine parsing of interests ... they want "this" but not "that". An example that I can clearly point to was Russia's only responding to Israel's strikes on Russian and Syrian troops, leaving Iranian troops in Syria vulnerable (until lately. Netanyahu crossed some red line and now Syria has Russia's official go-ahead to shoot down Israeli planes for any incursion.)

Is there some way to sum this up, so that Russia's foreign policy can be adequately predicted?

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

You idiots have been oppressing the entire sexual spectrum as long as you have existed. I can't wait for the day your kind is dead - WISHIMAY