Russia mocks American Missile System deployed in Saudi Arabia, has a word of advice for Kingdom Rulers
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MOSCOW - Russia mocks American Missile System Defence deployed in Saudi Arabia and has a word of advice for Kingdom Rulers to replace it with the Russian Missile defence system.
The attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities last weekend were a disaster for both Riyadh and Washington, with weapons allegedly made in Iran circumventing expensive U.S. missile defense systems.
But in Moscow, news of the attack was greeted as yet another chance to mock the United States and its allies - all while extolling the virtues of Russia's own missile defense technology, The Washington Post has reported.
"We still remember the fantastic U.S. missiles that failed to hit a target more than a year ago, while now the brilliant U.S. air defense systems could not repel an attack," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a briefing on Friday. "These are all links in a chain."
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Ankara for a meeting with Turkish and Iranian leaders on Monday, went further by suggesting that Saudi Arabia would have been saved from Saturday's attack if they had purchased a missile defense system made by Russia.
"The political leadership of Saudi Arabia just needs to make a wise state decision," Putin said on Monday, pointing to the purchase of the S-300 missile system by Iran and the S-400 missile system by Turkey.
The rivalry between the United States and Russia over arms sales has existed ever since the Cold War; between 2014 and 2018, they were the two largest exporters of arms in the world, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
But over the past few years, that rivalry has grown especially bitter as geopolitical conflict and new technology brought U.S. and Russian arms into close contact. In the Middle East, where tension and war have led to a surge in arms sales, Washington and Moscow often compete for the same clients.
