Russia Close to Sale of Lethal S-400 Air Defense System to Saudi Arabia

December 21, 2017 Topic: Security Blog Brand: The Buzz Tags: S-400MilitaryTechnologyWorldRussiaSaudi Arabia

Russia Close to Sale of Lethal S-400 Air Defense System to Saudi Arabia

A possible realignment in the Middle East? 

Russia and Saudi Arabia are finalizing the details of a potential sale of Moscow’s powerful S-400 air defense system to Riyadh. The surface-to-air missile system is part of a package of weapons that Russia hopes to sell to the wealthy Middle Eastern kingdom.

"As far as more complicated systems are concerned, negotiations still continue," Vladimir Kozhin, a presidential aide to Vladimir Putin for defense cooperation told the Russian TASS news agency. “Both technical issues and financial aspects are being discussed. I hope that we will get answers to all remaining questions by the end of the year."

Kozhin added that "those negotiations are literally under way at the moment" according to TASS. Relations between Russia and Saudi Arabia—though antagonistic during the Cold War—have warmed in recent months. Earlier this year in October, Saudi king Salman visited the Kremlin for talks to cement the budding relationship. It was there that the king signed a memorandum of understanding to buy the S-400, which is a shift in Saudi Arabia policy. Riyadh normally purchases its hardware from the United States and Great Britain.

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The potential Saudi S-400 buy might mark a shift in the region.

“They may use that as a leverage with U.S., but it’s also interesting how Israel will react to such a development, given that Tel Aviv maintains open link to Moscow concerning Syria and many regional developments,” Samuel Bendett, a researcher specializing in the Russian military at the Center for Naval Analyses, suggested to The National Interest. “We are seeing the emergence of even more interconnected interest structures - with Russia having close and open communication with Israel, Iran and Syria despite the last two's belligerent stance towards the first.”

In practical terms, the Saudi Arabia likely needs the additional air defense capacity. “This is an interesting development, though Saudi Arabia is no stranger to diversifying its missile regiment- after all, it operates DF series Chinese missiles as well,” Bendett noted. “Saudi Arabia is already facing a security dilemma—it is concerned with Houthi missiles hitting its territory and seeks to put its financial muscle behind efforts to squire a system capable of hitting enemy aircraft, in this case presumably Iranian.”

Thus from that standpoint, the S-400 purchase—if it goes through—makes perfect sense. However, as Bendett noted, the S-400 purchase is not a done deal—negotiations are still continuing and there is no guarantee that the two sided will be able to reach a mutually acceptable agreement. Nonetheless, the very fact that Riyadh is conducting negotiations with Moscow highlights a potential realignment in the region.

Dave Majumdar is the defense editor for The National Interest. You can follow him on Twitter: @Davemajumdar.

Image: Reuters.