The historical ties between the US and Saudi Arabia will not be the same as before, so Saudi leaders particularly Mohammed Bin Salman Al Saud, the crown prince, attempt to come closer to Russia.
Experts of regional affairs believe that the proximity may be fake or real. If it is fake, then Riyadh wants to provoke Washington; but if it is real, Saudi Arabia wants to find a powerful partner in the region to pursue its policies.
Riyadh witnesses the United States' pull-out from Afghanistan after 20 years of fruitless military presence in the war-torn country; thus, the defeat can make Saudi forces demotivated to continue war in Yemen.
Some media reports show that Khalid bin Salman stays in Russia on behalf of his brother Mohammed to ink military contracts with the Russians. It seems that Riyadh wants to get political support from Moscow as well; however, the result of such negotiations is not yet clear.
Saudi Arabia plans to change the course of historic hostile relationships with the Russians, which dates back to the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union, when the Saudis backed Afghan militants to fight the Russian forces.
Simultaneously, the US has gradually lost its passion to pursue close ties with the Saudis. As a result of global criticism on the Western powers' arms sales to Saudi Arabia to continue war in Yemen, the American authorities have come to the decision to review their arms deals with the kingdom.
Therefore, the Saudis have turned to Moscow to make amend the lack of weapons, which were traditionally imported from the US, Canada, Germany, Belgium, and some other states.
The structural relations between Washington and Riyadh, however, is so high that none of them can relinquish the ties, because more than 80 percent of Saudi arms and military structure comes from the US.
Saudi Arabia in particular the crown prince's human rights violations and crimes against humanity are the other important issues, which cannot be ignored by the Biden administration that represents the so-called democratic values in the American society.
Several Arab and Western media outlets have reported that Khalid bin Salman met with a Russian official on August 24, signing a military cooperation agreement, but it is not clear what has been mentioned in the contract.
A possible scenario can be that Riyadh tries to change Washington's behavior towards Saudi Arabia by showing the US that the Saudis can find a new ally because they are well aware that the Kremlin and the White House have tensions.
In conclusion, given the fact that there is a sophisticated relationship between the US and Saudi Arabia and that the result of Moscow-Riyadh military contract is unclear, let's wait and see what would happen in the end of the game.
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