This week, Saudi Arabia and Russia announced a new military cooperation agreement between them. No exact details were given about the nature of the agreement but there is no doubt that this is an unusual move. Although Russia and Saudi Arabia have been cooperating in recent years in the oil market, in the military arena Saudi Arabia has always been considered a close ally of the United States.

The question here is whether the Saudis are indeed changing direction or whether they are interested in putting pressure on the Biden administration that seems to be trying its best to stay away from Riyadh. For the Saudis, strengthening military ties with Russia makes a lot of sense, especially at this time. The American withdrawal from Afghanistan in the way it is being done signals to the Saudis that they should not rely on the Americans alone. In addition, the Biden administration acts as less and less interested in involvement in the Middle East, so Russia is a good option for the Saudis.

The question of course is how will the American arms companies that for years made tens of billions of dollars from the arms deals with Saudi Arabia react and now may have to lose a share in an important market in favor of the Russians.