In a first, Saudi king to visit Russia on Thursday

The visit comes a month before members of Opec are due to meet others to discuss extending pact that has helped prop up prices

AFP| PTI  |  Moscow 

Saudi Arabia's King Salman (R) stands on an escalator as he arrives at Halim Perdanakusuma airport in Jakarta, Indonesia. Photo: Reuters
Saudi Arabia's King Salman (R) stands on an escalator as he arrives at Halim Perdanakusuma airport in Jakarta, Indonesia. Photo: Reuters

King Salman of will visit on Thursday, senior Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov was quoted by the TASS news agency as saying.

"We are awaiting the king's visit on Thursday," Ushakov said today, without elaborating.


The visit comes a month before members of the cartel, of which is the biggest producer, are due to meet with the other nations that have joined them in cutting crude output, including Russia, to discuss extending the pact that has helped prop up prices.

and its allies agreed from the beginning of 2017 to cut their production by around 1.8 million barrels per day for six months. It was subsequently extended through March 2018.

The pact has helped reduce the glut of crude supplies on the market and the price to climb to around $55 per barrel currently.

and are heavily dependent on and the plunge of the price of crude that began in 2014 lashed both of their economies.

While and are now allies on the global market, they are on the opposite sides in the Syria conflict.

Moscow supports the regime of President Bashar al-Assad while Riyadh supports the opposition.

At least 3,000 people including 955 civilians were killed in September, the deadliest month of the conflict this year, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said on Sunday.

First Published: Mon, October 02 2017. 20:59 IST