Can Saudi Weapons Deal Prod Russia To Turn Back on Iran? - by Daniel Carty
Saudi Arabia is looking to purchase billions of dollars in weapons from Russia in an effort to get the Kremlin to scrap plans to sell surface-to-missile Iran.But official Russian sources have not confirmed the Kremlin's willingness to agree to such a deal, reports CBS News' Alexei Kuxnetsov. In fact, even analysts with knowledge of the Kremlin’s policies sounded rather skeptical.According to the Financial Times, Saudi Arabia's offer to buy the latest version of the system, the S-400 – akin to the U.S. Patriot missile defense system – for $2 billion is the latest attempt to get Moscow to back out of its deal with Tehran.Alexander Khramchikhin, a senior analyst with the Institute for Political and Military Analysis in Moscow, told Kuznetsov that while a deal between Russia and Saudi Arabia could be theoretically possible, a "number of stumbling blocks" make its probability near zero.
Khramchikhin also said Saudi Arabia represents a "dubious partner with quite a shady reputation" to the Kremlin. "The country has been a source of financing of international terrorism for decades and officially professes Wahhabism as its main religion. Given the years-long campaign against Islamic separatists in Russia’s north Caucasus, the Kremlin should by definition be allergic to dealing with any country where Wahhabism is the state religion," he said.
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