MOSCOW, October 13. /TASS/. Military and technical cooperation between Moscow and Riyadh has been developing positively, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with RT Arabic, Al Arabiya and Sky News Arabia TV channels on Sunday ahead of his visit to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

"We have a good plan of joint activities in that area [defense cooperation]," Putin said. According to the Russian leader, Saudi Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman "has been behind many of our initiatives, and these projects are being put into practice." "As I said, he came up with OPEC+, he endorsed the joint platforms of our investment funds."

Speaking on Saudi Arabia’s role in the region, Putin said it was definitely one of the key countries there. "It does have an impact based on its capabilities and its position in the energy market. Saudi Arabia can be safely called a global player since it has an impact on the world energy market, on world energy in general.".