Saudi Arabia supports Syrian territorial integrity, Russian-backed peace talks – FM

Relations between Moscow and Riyadh have climbed to a new high, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Thursday at a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, following the meeting of Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Touching on the Syrian crisis, Al-Jubeir stressed the necessity to preserve the territorial integrity of Syria, expressing support for intra-Syrian reconciliation talks in Astana, sponsored by Moscow. “We believe that now the bilateral relations began to develop and reached new horizons, which we could not even imagine before," he said. Lavrov, for his part, said that Moscow supports Saudi Arabia in its efforts to unite the Syrian opposition and is looking forward to expanding cooperation "in all areas."