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Scholz to visit Saudi as Germany seeks energy supplies
Issued on: 19/09/2022 - 14:38Berlin (AFP) – Chancellor Olaf Scholz will visit Saudi Arabia and meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as part of a Gulf trip, his spokesman said Monday, as Germany rushes to secure energy supplies
Scholz, whose two-day trip next weekend will also take him to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, becomes the latest Western leader to meet with the crown prince.
Bin Salman was until recently regarded as a pariah in the West due to his suspected role in the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
But he is being courted again as Europe and its allies urgently seek fresh sources of fossil fuels after Russia cut gas supplies amid soaring tensions over its invasion of Ukraine.
Scholz, accompanied by a business delegation, will visit Saudi Arabia on Saturday, where he will meet with the crown prince and -- if his health permits it -- King Salman, government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said.
He did not go into detail about the reasons for Scholz's Gulf visit but said he would be "very surprised" if the topic of energy was not discussed.
The spokesman also offered assurances that "the murder of Mr Khashoggi will certainly figure in discussions".
It is the latest sign of bin Salman's international rehabilitation -- in July, French President Emmanuel Macron held talks with him in Paris, and US President Joe Biden visited the kingdom.
On Sunday, Scholz will head first to the UAE and meet with President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan. Economy Minister Robert Habeck said Scholz would sign contracts there related to liquified natural gas -- seen as a key alternative to Russian energy supplies.
In the afternoon, the chancellor will hold talks with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.
Habeck already visited Qatar and the UAE in March in an effort to find alternatives to Russian gas, which Germany has traditionally depended on heavily.
Russia's decision to cut off supplies has triggered an energy crisis in Europe, with consumers and businesses facing soaring bills as winter approaches.
Scholz to visit Saudi as Germany seeks energy supplies
Chancellor Olaf Scholz will visit Saudi Arabia and meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as part of a Gulf trip, his spokesman said Monday, as Germany rushes to secure energy supplies.
www.france24.com
Many of the world's most powerful leaders have been flocking to KSA in recent months or meeting with MbS/Saudi Arabian officials.
BTW expect KSA-Germany military ties to grow stronger after Germany stopped their senseless pacifism. Germany could become a very important partner for KSA in its Vision 2030 and military sector (Tot, JV's, German companies establishing regional manufacturing in KSA etc.).
10 imprisoned foreign fighters, including Americans, are released as part of a Russia-Ukraine exchange, Saudi Arabia says.
By Carly Olson and Dan Bilefsky
- Sept. 21, 2022
Ten prisoners of war, including U.S. and British citizens, have been transferred to Saudi Arabia as part of an exchange between Russia and Ukraine, Saudi officials said on Wednesday.
The Saudi foreign ministry said on Twitter that Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, had mediated the release.
The timing of the release was striking, coming just hours after President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia intensified his war effort in Ukraine by announcing plans to call up roughly 300,000 reservists to fight while also taking the West to task over its support for Ukraine with a veiled threat of using nuclear weapons.
The arrest of foreigners in Ukraine has alarmed human rights advocates and Western governments, raising questions about the protections afforded to thousands of foreign-born fighters serving in the country, some of whom have been taken prisoner on the battlefield.
The released prisoners included several who had been sentenced to death in Russia-occupied eastern Ukraine.
Among those released were two Americans who had been held captive for more than three months: Alex Drueke, a former U.S. Army staff sergeant who served two tours in Iraq, according to his aunt, Dianna Shaw; and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, a former U.S. Marine, according to Ms. Shaw, who said she had been texting with Mr. Huynh’s family.
“We’re just so deeply grateful,” Ms. Shaw said.
Mr. Drueke and Mr. Huynh, a California native who had been living in Alabama, disappeared together when their platoon came under “heavy fire” on June 9, causing all its members to fall back except for the two of them, according to a statement from Mr. Drueke’s family. They had volunteered to fight in Ukraine and were captured near the city of Kharkiv on June 9 while fighting alongside other foreign soldiers.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said in a statement that the United States appreciated Ukraine’s inclusion of American citizens in its prisoner of war negotiations, and that he had called Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud of Saudi Arabia to thank him for his country’s role in the exchange.
Later on Wednesday, Ukrainian officials said they had secured the release of a total of 215 prisoners, including the foreign fighters and the commanders of the Azov Battalion, who defended Mariupolfrom within a sprawling steel plant before surrendering to Russian forces in May. The prisoner swap is the largest such exchange since the start of the war.
Five British citizens who had been held in Ukraine by Russian-backed proxies have been released, Prime Minister Liz Truss said, calling it “hugely welcome news.” Ms. Truss thanked President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and Saudi Arabia for their help securing the citizens’ release.
“Russia must end the ruthless exploitation of prisoners of war and civilian detainees for political ends,” she said.
The Saudi ministry said it was working to return those released to their home countries, which also included Morocco, Sweden and Croatia.
Robert Jenrick, a Conservative member of the British Parliament, wrote on Twitter that Aiden Aslin was among the prisoners who was released. Mr. Aslin’s hometown, Newark, is in Mr. Jenrick’s district.
Mr. Aslin was one of three men — including Shaun Pinner, a British citizen, and Brahim Saadoun, a Moroccan — who were sentenced to death in June by a court in Russia-occupied eastern Ukraine. Prosecutors had accused the three men of being mercenaries and terrorists who were seeking to violently overthrow the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic, one of two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine that Russia has recognized.
“Aiden’s return brings to an end months of agonizing uncertainty for Aiden’s loving family in Newark who suffered every day of Aiden’s sham trial but never lost hope,” Mr. Jenrick wrote. “As they are united as a family once more, they can finally be at peace.”
One of the freed Americans, Mr. Drueke, is an avid hiker who before the war had been living on family land in rural western Alabama while hoping to plan “a new adventure” with his Mastiff rescue, Diesel, according to a previous statement by his family.
In April, before leaving for Ukraine, Mr. Huynh told WAAY-TV, an ABC affiliate in northern Alabama, that he had decided to travel to Ukraine and fight after seeing 18-year-olds fighting for their freedom.
Mr. Huynh studied robotics. He had been in the Marines for four years, entering right after graduating from high school.
“I know there’s a potential of me dying,” he told WAAY-TV. “I’m willing to give my life for what I believe is right.”
10 imprisoned foreign fighters, including Americans, are released as part of a Russia-Ukraine exchange, Saudi Arabia says.
Alex Drueke, a former U.S. Army staff sergeant who served two tours in Iraq, and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, a former U.S. Marine, were released.
MbS is growing into his role geopolitically after transforming KSA.
@The SC I will closely observe the KSA-Germany ties on the economic/military/industrialization front. I think that this relationship could become quite important.
