AKIPRESS.COM - Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz is beginning an historic first visit to Russia by a monarch of the Gulf kingdom as he seeks an understanding with President Vladimir Putin to extend an agreement curbing oil supplies, Bloomberg reported.

King Salman is due to meet with Putin on Thursday after he arrived for the four-day official visit late Wednesday. His journey to Moscow, ahead of planned talks with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington early next year, underscores a shift in strategic direction by Saudi Arabia as Russian influence in the Middle East expands following Putin’s military intervention in Syria.

“We are sure that this truly epochal event in our relations will bring our cooperation to a totally new level,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with Saudi-owned newspaper Sharq al-Awsat published on the Foreign Ministry’s website on Wednesday.

The Saudi courtship of Russia reflects a convergence of interests between the world’s two largest oil exporters as the output pact between the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and non-OPEC producers has spurred a recovery in crude prices. It’s also a recognition by Riyadh of the changing political balance in the Middle East after Putin successfully countered indecisive U.S. efforts to topple Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.

“Saudi Arabia always liked to diversify” its relationships and “not to rely on one ally at a time, especially since America has proved time and again that they are not reliable allies,” said Khaled Batarfi, a professor at Alfaisal University’s branch in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.