The fourth session of the Russia—Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (CCASG) strategic dialog held in Moscow piqued interest of the global and Arab press, which reacted to the event by releasing a score of publications containing curious remarks.
There are several reasons for that. First, willingness of the parties to meet at the high ministerial level demonstrated their commitment to compromise on a number of very complex issues concerning political and economic life of the Middle East. There are many issues, ranging from an effective counter-terrorism strategy to economics, on which both parties would be happy to reach a consensus. And, if previously Saudi Arabia was throwing sops to Moscow by purchasing Russian armaments, by today the bilateral relations have progressed to a higher level. Even though Riyadh is “playing first violin” in CCASG, the fact that representatives of Kuwait, Qatar, UAE, Oman were willing to come to Moscow simultaneously signals that the Arab states of the Persian Gulf reconsidered their relations with Russia. It also demonstrates that today they take Russia as a serious global player with whom they can build a productive dialog.
What issues did the parties cover at the session? What agreements did the key players of the global oil and gas exploration and production industry reach? Quite expectedly, there were no disagreements on the common issues of terrorism as everybody is willing to fight terrorists and militants, but nobody is willing to “name names.” The Arab press published a number of appeasing articles on the topic. For example, Kuwait Times on May 26 wrote, “The ministers of CCASG and Russia have condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, affirming that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustified regardless of their motives and affiliation with certain religious, cultural or ethnic group.” The ministers emphasized that it would take coordinated regional and international efforts to fight terrorism and any factors promoting its proliferation, to eliminate all sources supporting terrorism and violent extremism, including sources of its financing, and to counter transnational organized crime.
It was also quite expected that despite recent clashes of opinions with Washington, the Arab party would insist on the inclusion of the “participation of the United States” paragraph in the concluding document. For example, in the article published on May 26, Arab News wrote that the parties “welcomed the creation of a counter-terrorism Islamic military alliance and supported cooperation between the Russian Federation and an international coalition headed by the US struggling against the so-called Islamic State.”
What is satisfactory, though, is that despite polar stances on the issues of settlement of the Syrian crisis, the parties managed not to fall into a heated dispute, but resorted to a diplomatic exchange of concise statements of facts, and, as it seems, this approach satisfied everyone. Speaking about Syria, the ministers stressed the need to ensure unity, sovereignty, territorial integrity and stability of the country. They also noted the importance of achieving peace in Syria by employing political means to spare lives of the Syrians and to achieve a cessation of military actions. However, the parties slipped over the issue concerning the facts of massive financial and armed support extended to terrorists by the member states of CCASG backed by the US and sufferings of the Syrian people.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov assumed this mission and spoke about this problem using explicit, strong language, “It seems that all those who were willing to leave the areas flooded by terrorists as well as all those who were willing to formally acknowledge the ceasefire regime could have done so on many occasions. We offered our American partners to define May 25 as the date on which all those ready for a political settlement would be separated from those who denounce the ceasefire. The American party has studied our proposal, and in the end asked for more time to work out a decision. We have accommodated their request.” But, knowing Washington’s two-faced, evasive Syrian policy, all expectations can be expressed in a single quote of a renowned Russian fable writer Ivan Krylov “alas, the cart is still there,” which means no progress should be expected any time soon.
The excerpt outlining a necessity to intensify the dialogue between civilizations, cultures and religions to restore and enhance the concept of peace, security and justice as well as to promote tolerance and mutual respect would appear rather appealing to Russian and Arab scholars. Cooperation in these domains would lend special significance to the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialog. It seems that accession of Russian scholars to this International Center and their active participation in its activities could help in closing of the existing gaps between our religions, lifestyles and customs, and, as a consequence, facilitate the mission of diplomats and other parties involved.
“Russia always takes Middle Eastern problems seriously and sincerely and always tries to resolve them to the best of its powers and capabilities. The Islamic world can always turn to Russia when it needs a reliable partner willing to grant assistance in the resolution of its topical problems,” said Russian President Vladimir Putin. “We support the active position of the Muslim countries in entrenching the principles of justice and supremacy of law in international relations,” added Mr. Putin. He also expressed hope that the session of the group would promote confidence building and strengthening of cooperation between Russia and the Muslim countries.
Countries participating in the session, including Riyadh, acknowledged a special significance of the Moscow meeting. Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir stressed the importance of the discussion of regional events, especially on Syria, having added that CCASG would make every effort to develop relations with Russia in various areas. “The countries of CCASG and Russia share historical ties and common interests. We appreciate Russia’s stance on the issue of sovereignty and non-interference in their affairs,” said Mr. al-Jubeir referring to the counter-terrorism agreement signed with Russia. He also stressed that the meeting of foreign ministers of Russia and the member states of CCASG had been productive, and that it had been decided to enhance coordination and intensify bilateral consultations between the two parties. The Minister emphasized that Russia could play a special role in the war on terrorism by responding to crisis situations in the region. “We work with Russia to resist the challenges our region faces today.” (Al-Watan, May 26, 2016).
The Moscow meeting proved important as it positively influenced the world economy. On May 26, for the first time in the last six month, the price of a barrel of Brent Crude oil crossed the $50 margin. Nevertheless, there are some issues, including the issue of implementation of agreements reached in Moscow, which remain pending. Many commentators remind of the sad results of the meeting in Doha (Qatar), when the Saudis radically changed their stance at the last moment. Only time can show whether the Saudi rulers will stay true to the agreements reached in Moscow.
Victor Mikhin, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”
