Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described how the Soviet Union helped Saudi Arabia as a young country in the 1920s, when it had its first Soviet consul.

In an interview with an institution dedicated to reviving the legacy of the first Soviet consul in Saudi Arabia, Karim Khakimov, he stated that “at the time Khakimov worked there, oil riches had not yet been discovered there, the country lived in a state of poverty, although conditions in the Soviet Union in At that time were not prosperous, the Soviet Union realized the need to support the young Saudi Arabia and organized its supply of food and other humanitarian aid.

Lavrov pointed out that “Khakimov was an outstanding and talented Arabist, he knew the language, history and customs of the Arab countries of the East, which manifested itself both in his subsequent work and in the position of representative of the Soviet Union in Saudi Arabia. Arabia, his opportunities as a person, a diplomat, a historian and a psychiatrist, because he communicated with everyone.

He pointed out: “Another feature that the first representative of the Soviet Union in Saudi Arabia had was that he knew no fear, and the story goes that his credentials were to be presented and the accreditation ceremonies were arranged in such a way, by which he traveled by car alone at night through the desert, and this was not so. It was perfectly safe at the time.”