According to a report by French daily Le Monde on Friday, King Salman has written a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron, expressing his "profound concern" over ongoing negotiations between Qatar and Russia for the sale of the advanced anti-aircraft weapon system,Press TV reported.
"[In such a situation], the kingdom would be ready to take all the necessary measures to eliminate this defense system, including military action," King Salman was quoted as stating in the letter.
The press TV further notes that the report came out a day after Saudi Ambassador to Russia Rayed Krimly said negotiations between Riyadh and Moscow over the purchase of the S-400 missile system were “advancing well,” noting that the two sides were working out the technical details of the contract. It is worth noting that during King Salman's visit to Moscow last October, Saudi Arabia signed preliminary agreements to purchase the S-400 system from Russia.
How Saudi's opposition to the deal with Qatar will affect Moscow's calculations, in an answer to this question, Pavel Felgenhauer, a Russia-based defence analyst, told Al Jazeera that this is unlikely to be the case.
"Russia has been for some years trying to build up a kind of trade relationship with Saudi Arabia but that has not really worked out at all," Felgenhauer said.
"Saudi Arabia has been clearly attaching political strings to any possible deal with buying Russians weapons ... that Russia should scale down its cooperation with Iran primarily and maybe modify its position in Syria," he added.
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(Cover photo credit: AP)
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