A. M. VASILIEV Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Keywords: Russian-Arab relations, Arab countries, Egypt, Syria In the post-Gorbachev period, Russia, having abandoned both official atheism and the division of other countries into "reactionary" and "progressive" ones, sought to find economic and, in some ways, political partners in the rich monarchies of the Persian Gulf. However, finding common ground was not easy and not fast. In the 1990s, Russia did not receive large investments from the Gulf countries. Alertness remained. Arab capital was afraid to invest in Russia, not knowing either the laws or traditions, not being sure of stability. As Saudi businessmen told the author, " capital is inherently cowardly, it needs guarantees for its activities, and Russia does not have them." RUSSIAN FEDERATION-ARABIA: SOME POSITIVE THINGS In oil matters, relations between Russia and Saudi Arabia were difficult. The two countries were the largest oil producers and exporters in those years. But Saudi Arabia was an OPEC member and had a huge impact on politics Ending. For the beginning, see: Asia and Africa today. 2016, N 10, 11. The research was carried out within the framework of the HSE Basic Research Program in 2016 with the support of the Russian Science Foundation project "Russian Policy in the Middle East: Prospects and Limits of Cooperation with the countries of the region" (N 14-18-03615). page 8other countries of this organization. Russia has often faced OPEC competition for markets and prices. Saudi Arabia's job was to maintain oil prices, and it could afford to limit production and exports. In the 1990s, privatisation brought Russian oil into the hands of more than 50 private oil companies, which acquired vast wealth and political influence in the impoverished country.1 And in Saudi Arabia, ARAMCO was nationalized, becoming "Saudi ARAMCO" as the most important tool of state policy. Russia increased its oil exports in the 1990s and noughties simply becaus ... Read more