Reports of an apparently successful visit by Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince and Minister of Defense Mohammed bin Salman to Russia suggest a potential improvement in Russian-Saudi ties — but could it also be bad news for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad?

In addition to meeting with President Vladimir Putin on the margins of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (Russia’s attempt at organizing its own version of the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland), Mohammed signed agreements on oil, nuclear power and space. Other deals included a memorandum of understanding between the Russian Direct Investment Fund and the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority on jointly investing up to $10 billion. Simultaneously, Saudi military officials attended Russia’s “Army 2015 International Military Technical Forum” in Kubinka and Saudi officials openly speculated about buying Russian ships and missiles. 

No less significant, Mohammed told Putin that Saudi King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud accepted his invitation to visit Russia and conveyed the king’s reciprocal invitation to Putin — which the Russian leader accepted “with pleasure.” According to the Kremlin’s website, Putin has not been to Saudi Arabia since meeting King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud in February 2007. (Abdullah never visited Moscow.)

The Kremlin’s official reports reveal that while Putin has had a few telephone conversations with Saudi Arabia’s rulers over the last decade, his personal interactions have been limited to the Saudi foreign minister and occasional meetings with Prince Bandar bin Sultan, a former top official.