Putin, Saudi King discuss Qatar crisis in phone call

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud discussed the diplomatic crisis with Qatar in a phone call on Tuesday.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud discussed the diplomatic crisis with Qatar in a phone call on Tuesday.

According to a statement from the Kremlin, the Russian President and King Salman “exchanged opinions on the current situation in the Middle East,” including the dispute with Qatar.

The statement mentioned rising tensions with Doha do not “promote the consolidation of joint efforts in the Syrian’s reconciliation and the fight against the terrorist threat.”

The two leaders also discussed bilateral relations as well as ways to combat terrorism in the region.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and a few other nations cut ties with Doha last Monday, accusing the country of supporting terrorism.

Qatar denied the assertions made against it, labeling the decision from its neighboring countries to sever ties “unjustified” and with “no basis in fact.”

Russian President Putin reached out to the leader of Qatar just days after the dispute between the Gulf Arab nations.

“Putin reaffirmed Russia’s principled position in favor of settling crises by political and diplomatic means, through dialogue,” the Kremlin summarized Putin’s comments.

Meanwhile, Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani traveled to Moscow over the weekend to meet with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov.

The two agreed direct conversations were the only way to solve the ongoing embargo against Qatar.

“Every problem should be solved with a dialogue [sic],” Sheikh Thani noted.

"Dialogue among the states of [the] Persian Gulf is the most appropriate format," he added.

 

Editing by G. H. Renaud