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Russian
President, Saudi Spy Chief Discussed Syria, Egypt
Translated from As-Safir (Lebanon).
August 25, 2013 "Information Clearing House - A diplomatic report about the “stormy meeting” in July between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi intelligence chief 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.”
Translated from As-Safir (Lebanon).
August 25, 2013 "Information Clearing House - A diplomatic report about the “stormy meeting” in July between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi intelligence chief 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.
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
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. 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 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
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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