Abdullah II of Jordan arrives in Moscow to discuss peace – and weapons.
President Dmitry Medvedev received King Abdullah II of Jordan, yesterday, who is arguably Russia's greatest ally in the Middle East. True, warm relations with the Arab monarch are taking time to be translated into major economic projects, but the kingdom plays an important role in the Middle East peace process, and it is important for Russia to hear out King Abdullah before the ministerial meeting of the Quartet.
Among world leaders, Abdullah II is one of the most frequent guests in Moscow. This is his tenth visit to Russia and his third meeting with Dmitry Medvedev. As for Vladimir Putin, with whom he had already met, the two men are personal friends. During Mr Putin's visit to Jordan in 2007, the king personally greeted him at the airport – an unprecedented event in his country – and drove him to his residence in his car.
King Abdullah, a former armoured battalion commander, has a mentality not unlike that of former security man Vladimir Putin, so not surprisingly, cooperation between Moscow and Amman tends to focus on the military. Several years ago, Jordan obtained a $390 million "defence" loan from Russia to buy a batch of Kornet anti-tank rockets and Igla portable anti-aircraft rockets (SA-18 Grouse) to be followed by the purchase of two IL-76 transport planes. Moscow has offered to increase the loan, but the monarch has yet to give a clear answer.
"Although King Abdullah is a military man and a personal friend of Putin's, enlarging the range of purchases is not on the cards," said Igor Korotchenko, a member of the Defence Ministry Public Council. "Jordan simply doesn't have the money." Realistically, however, joint production of anti-tank grenade launchers may be discussed, according to Mr Korotchenko. Plans are afoot to build a plant for the production of Khashim grenade launchers, and in the future, Amman hopes to export the weapon to other Middle East countries. The Russian grenade launchers gave a "stellar" performance during Israel's war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, says Mr Korochenko: it blew the tops off Israeli Merkav tanks before even exploding.
Another promising area of cooperation between Moscow and Amman is nuclear energy, although the issue was not even raised at the Kremlin yesterday, a source close to the negotiations told RBC Daily. Meanwhile, Jordan has expressed interest in having Russians participate in the construction of nuclear plants in the country, Rosatom officials say. "An intergovernmental agreement on peaceful use of nuclear energy was signed last year and the Jordanians have already requested documentation with concrete projects," the company told RBC Daily. It was earlier reported that the two countries had agreed to jointly produce uranium in Jordan, but no official documents to the effect exist, Atomredmetzoloto representatives told RBC Daily, adding that "Jordanian proposals will be given careful consideration once they are fleshed out in detail."
This time around, political issues were at the top of the agenda, experts believe. On the eve of the ministerial meeting of the Middle East Quartet in Moscow on March 19, it is necessary to meet with Abdullah II and get on the same page, says Gumer Isayev, head of the Petersburg Middle East Centre. "Jordan is one of the key brokers in the Middle East settlement, and it was itself drawn into the conflict when after the 1967 war, many Palestinian refugees settled in the country. Their 'Black September' riots in 1970 were put down by the regular army, but now many refugees hold Jordanian passports".
Even the Jordanian queen, Rania, is of Palestinian origin.
Vyacheslav Leonov
