SOCHI (Ruptly) — Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with reporters of Al Arabiya, Sky Nеws Arabia and RT Arabic about the current agenda in the Arab world and the role that Russia and the United States play in the Middle East region. The interview, which was recorded in Sochi, was published on Sunday, ahead of the visit of the Russian leader to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Putin is set to visit Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for the first time since 2007, with the president arriving in Riyadh on Monday.

Commenting on the attack on Saudi oil facilities, Putin said that such things could not ‘affect the relationship between Russia and our Arab friends — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates’ within the OPEC+. “Our goal is to stabilize the situation on world energy markets”, added Russian leader.

“We consider Saudi Arabia as a friendly nation. I am on good terms with the King, and with the Crown Prince”, explained Putin, noting, that relations between countries are developing “almost in all areas”.

As for relations between Russia and the United States, the president admitted that he hasn’t got a Twitter account, and doesn’t read tweets of his American counterpart, but he knows “what and how the President of the United States, Mr. Trump, talks about Russian-American relations.”

He added that Moscow understands, “domestic political life of the United States. And the domestic political agenda does not allow the incumbent president to take steps to radically improve Russian-American relations.”

However, Putin encouraged his American colleagues to respond to Russian proposals to extend the START-3 treaty, which expires in 2021, and to present to the world the details of the so-called “Deal of the century”.