MOSCOW — On Oct. 25, Saudi King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud called Russian President Vladimir Putin. The official readout of the conversation said that Salman confirmed his invitation to Putin to visit Saudi Arabia and that the two “agreed to work out the terms of such a visit through diplomatic channels.” Putin and Salman also “thoroughly discussed issues of the further development of multifaceted bilateral cooperation, including in the energy sector,” as well as Syria and “the state of affairs in the Middle East in general.”

“The situation around the ‘Jamal Khashoggi case’ was also addressed,” the readout said. Up until now, Russia has kept a low profile on one of the most heinous recent international incidents.

The next day, Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Salman informed Putin of the measures the kingdom was adopting to investigate the killing of Khashoggi and bring to justice those responsible for it.

“There’s an official statement from the king [that the Saudi royal family was not involved in the killing of Khashoggi], there’s an official statement from the crown prince. There’s no grounds to question [the statements] in principle,” Peskov said.