ON behalf of the government of the Russian Federation, its people and myself, I congratulate Saudi Arabia and its people on the National Day!

The peoples of Russia and Saudi Arabia have a long friendly relations. Back in the year 1926, the Soviet Union became the first country that recognized the independence of the Kingdom and sent to Riyadh its diplomatic mission. Since then, despite the objective difficulties in bilateral ties, the relationship between our two countries have continued to steadily intensify.

A new impetus to the development of Russian-Saudi cooperation has been given this year. Since the beginning of 2015, after the coming to power of King Salman, exchange of visits between Russia and Saudi Arabia, especially the visit of Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to St. Petersburg, opened a new page in bilateral relations, laying a solid base for further deepening ties in all fields.

We hope that in the future, the relations between Russia and Saudi Arabia would develop on the principles of mutual interest and respect, which, undoubtedly, will benefit our peoples.

Oleg Ozerov,

Ambassador of The Russian Federation to Saudi Arabia