Free Republic

Saudi Arabia's defense minister said Sunday that he and other top officials are "astonished" by accusations that Saudi Arabia has aligned itself with Russia due to OPEC's decision to cut oil production by two million barrels a day. "Although the OPEC+ decision, which was taken unanimously, was due to purely economic reasons, some accused the Kingdom of standing with Russia," Khalid bin Salman, the defense minister, tweeted on Sunday. "Iran is also a member of OPEC, does this mean that the Kingdom is standing with Iran as well?"

Saudi and Russian officials Tuesday announced the signing of military cooperation pact between the two countries. Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman announced the agreement via Twitter, stating it would aid in “developing joint military cooperation between the two countries.” In a second tweet, he elaborated on his meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Shoygu, in which the pair explored ways to “strengthen the military and defense cooperation between our two countries.” I signed an agreement today with the Russian Deputy Minister of Defense Colonel General Alexander Fomin between the Kingdom and the Russian Federation aimed at developing joint military...