Saudi King Abdullah received a phone call from Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday to discuss the ways to increase cooperation between the two countries during the coming period and the ways to push forward the bilateral relations. They also discussed the recent developments on regional and international level, including the recent decision taken by a number of Arab countries to boycott Qatar.
Meanwhile, the U.S Administration called the Qatari authorities for taking serious steps to ease the fears of neighboring states and to change their controversial policies supporting terrorism.
According to Saudi News Agency, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Arabia's King Salman discussed the Qatar crisis in a phone call on Tuesday, the Kremlin said in a statement. A diplomatic row between Qatar and some Arab nations including Saudi Arabia was not helping to unite efforts to try to find a Syria settlement or fight terrorism, the Kremlin said.
In the same context, The US administration intensified its mediation efforts in the spat between Doha and its neighbors on Tuesday, as Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said in Washington that there “is no blockade” on Qatar. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson hosted Al-Jubeir, while US Defense Secretary James Mattis will reportedly be meeting his Qatari counterpart Khalid Al-Attiyah on Wednesday.
Tillerson and Al-Jubeir met for over an hour at the State Department, and the standoff with Qatar took priority in the talks. Ahead of the meeting, Saudi Arabia’s first diplomat laid out his country’s approach to the escalation.
“There is no blockade of Qatar. Qatar is free to go. The ports are open, the airports are open,” Al-Jubeir said while standing next to Tillerson in the Benjamin Franklin room.
Al-Jubeir struck a defiant approach in explaining Saudi Arabia’s moves. “What we have done is we have denied them use of our airspace, and this is our sovereign right,” he said. “The limitation on the use of Saudi airspace is only limited to Qatar Airways or Qatari-owned aircraft, not anybody else.”
He added: “The seaports of Qatar are open. There is no blockade on them. Qatar can move goods in and out whenever they want. They just cannot use our territorial waters.” Al-Jubeir also highlighted Riyadh’s latest measures to ease the restrictions to allow joint Saudi-Qatari families to be reunited, adding that Saudi Arabia would send humanitarian relief if needed.
Parallel to Al-Jubeir’s visit, Al-Attiyah arrived in Washington on Monday and is slated to meet Mattis on Wednesday. The US administration has been keen to prevent the diplomatic crisis having repercussions on the fight against Daesh and US defense operations in Doha.