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Saudi Arabia |
Russia–Saudi Arabia relations (Russian: Российско-саудовские отношения) is the relationship between the two countries, Russia and Saudi Arabia. The relations between the two countries are currently strong in military and technical cooperation.
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The first country to establish full diplomatic relations with Hijaz (the name of the Saudi state until 1932) was the Soviet Union.[1] However, relations cooled later on, with Saudi Arabia closing their legation in Moscow in 1938 and refusing to reestablish relations. Diplomatic relations were only reestablished after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the establishment of the Russian Federation.[2] Despite a lack of relations, about 20 Soviet Muslims were allowed to annually make the Hajj from 1946 until 1990 when liberalization allowed thousands of Soviet Muslims to attend.[3] Relations were strained in the 1980s by Saudi support for the Mujahideen during the Soviet war in Afghanistan and the close alliance with the United States.
President Vladimir Putin met King Abdullah in Riyadh during a high level delegation visit on February 11–12, 2007 marking the first official visit for a Russian leader to the Kingdom. The visit was an opportunity for Moscow to further its relations with Riyadh in a broad range of areas including regional security issues, energy, trade, transportation, scientific cooperation and exchanges. King Abdullah's visit to Russia in 2003, as Crown Prince, marked an opening in high level contacts between the countries which did not have diplomatic ties from 1938 until 1990. President Putin departed Saudi Arabia later on for visits to Qatar and Jordan.
After the 2008 Georgia-Russia crisis, King Abdullah said that he had the full understanding of the Russian side on the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, however, Saudi Arabia did not recognize the two regions yet.
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