Saudi Crown Prince attends EU, skips BRICS summit

In his Telegram channel, the author of the Resurgam channel discusses Saudis' participation in the BRICS summit in Kazan.

The author highlights 3 key points.

1. The Saudis no longer recognize themselves as part of the BRICS.

Moscow officials have demanded clarification from the Saudis regarding their status in BRICS+, as discussed during last year's Johannesburg summit. In response, the Saudis have indicated that their delegation is participating solely as a "country invited to the summit," a point also confirmed by Moscow officials.

Thus, the Saudis are not participating as a member of BRICS+. This could suggest that, while they haven't formally withdrawn from BRICS+, they have effectively put their application on hold.

2. The Saudi leader cancels his visit to the BRICS and travels to the EU.

The most notable actions come from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who canceled his participation in BRICS without providing an explanation. He is the only leader, aside from Brazil's, to downgrade his delegation's status among BRICS+ members without any public clarification.

In contrast, the Crown Prince elevated the status of the delegation sent to Brussels on October 16 for the first EU-Arab Gulf Cooperation Council summit, where he personally attended the event.

This is the first Saudi delegation of such a high level in Brussels since 2015. The Crown Prince held meetings with Ursula von der Leyen, Charles Michel, and Emmanuel Macron. It was revealed that the foundation for these "new interactions" with Saudi Arabia was laid by Charles Michel, who had made several visits to the kingdom beforehand.

Politico reports that the EU kept the participation of the Saudi leader under wraps until the last moment.

3. Saudis are open to talks with the EU on “pro-Ukrainian commitments” 

 According to the outlet, this meeting was to be a turning point, as "the EU is struggling to get Gulf countries on board with a series of pro-Ukraine commitments."

Information obtained by Politico indicated that the EU insisted on drafting points for a joint statement in which the parties would explicitly call for an end to any material support for Moscow and condemn the actions of Russia and Iran. The EU also pushed for a point aimed at improving cooperation to prevent circumvention of sanctions.

As participants in the process noted, surprisingly, the Saudis, led by the prince, were more open to discussions, while the main resistance came from Putin's staunch allies in the UAE, who insisted on "general formulations." This position of the UAE further underscores the emirates' interest in "supporting Moscow."

“In contrast, the Saudis' shift is clearly noticeable. The question is whether this process will be extended or not. However, the initial results are evident. Interestingly, it is the European, rather than the American, political sphere that has first shown a public rapprochement with Saudi Arabia,” the author concludes.