[image: The Saudi monarch reportedly asked France to increase its pressureon Qatar [File: Sergei Chirikov/EPA-EFE]]
RIYADH – Saudi Arabia , one of the countries blockading Qatar, hasthreatened military action against its Gulf neighbour if it acquires theRussian-made S-400 aerial defence system, French daily Le Monde reportedlink> on Friday.
In a letter addressed to President Emmanuel Macron of France, Saudi KingSalman expressed his “profound concern” with talks under way between Moscowand Doha for the sale of the advanced anti-aircraft weapon system.
The Saudi monarch, who asked that France increase its pressure on Qatar,said he was worried about the consequences of Doha’s acquisition of themobile surface-to-air missile system which he said threatened Saudisecurity interests.
“[In such a situation], the Kingdom would be ready to take all thenecessary measures to eliminate this defence system, including militaryaction,” King Salman was quoted as saying in the letter, whose content LeMonde obtained via a source close to Elysee Palace.
In January, Qatar’s ambassador to Russia said talkslink>forthe acquisition of the air-defense system were “at an advanced stage”.
This came after the signing of an agreement on military and technicalcooperation between the two countries in October 2017 to furthercooperation in the defence field during a visit by Russian Defence MinisterSergei Shoigu to the Gulf state.
On June 5, 2017, Saudi Arabia – alongside fellow Gulf Cooperation Council(GCC) countries Bahrainlink> and the United ArabEmirateslink>, aswell as Egypt – imposed a sea, air and land blockade on Qatar, accusing itof supporting “terrorism” and destabilising the region, allegations Dohahas consistently denied.
Among its list of demands for the resolution of the crisis, the blockadingquartet asked that Al Jazeera media network and a Turkish military base beshut down.
In October, during a visit by King Salman to Moscow, the kingdom signedpreliminary agreementslink>tobuy the S-400 system.
Asked whether Saudi’s opposition to the deal with Qatar will affectMoscow’s calculations, Pavel Felgenhauer, a Russia-based defence analyst,told Al Jazeera that this is unlikely to be the case.
“Russia has been for some years trying to build up a kind of traderelationship with Saudi Arabia but that has not really worked out at all,”Felgenhauer said.
“Saudi Arabia has been clearly attaching political strings to any possibledeal with buying Russians weapons … that Russia should scale down itscooperation with Iran primarily and maybe modify its position in Syria,” headded.
“Qatar is not attaching such strings [and] Russia would not militarily tryto get involved in anything that’s happening in the Gulf … in any casethese anti-aircraft missiles, if they ever appear in Qatar, this won’t beany time soon.”