World leaders welcome Saudi prince at G20, Putin delighted

BUENOS AIRES: World leaders including a beaming Vladimir Putin welcomed Saudi Arabia´s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Friday at the G20 summit, showing he was no pariah less than two months after the murder of a dissident journalist by a Saudi hit team.

In an image that quickly went viral online, the Russian leader and the prince both beamed and clasped each other´s hands like long-lost friends.

The embrace came amid reports that Russia and Saudi Arabia have reached a pact to cut oil production when the OPEC cartel meets on December 6 in Vienna, to help shore up collapsing crude prices.

The ambitious 33-year-old prince was also seen chatting with US President Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka, and shaking hands with French President Emmanuel Macron, at the start of the two-day meeting of the world´s top economies in Buenos Aires.

The French presidency said that Macron spoke to the prince about the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the Saudi-led offensive in Yemen, where millions are on the brink of starvation in what the United Nations calls the world´s worst humanitarian crisis.

Macron told Prince Mohammed that Europeans wanted international investigators to take part in the probe on Khashoggi´s death and stressed "the necessity of a political solution in Yemen," the Elysee Palace said.

British Prime Minister Theresa May, speaking to Sky News before the summit, said she would press both on Yemen and Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor who was killed when visiting the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

"The Saudi Arabians need to ensure that their investigation is a full investigation, that it´s credible, that it´s transparent, and that people can have confidence in the outcome of it, and that those responsible are held to account," May said.

Khashoggi´s killing has sparked widespread outrage but Western powers have pledged to maintain close relations with Saudi Arabia, a top oil producer and buyer of US weapons.

Trump, in an exclamation point-heavy statement before the summit, said it did not matter whether Prince Mohammed knew about Khashoggi´s death and that Saudi Arabia was important for business and for its hostility to Iran.

The US Senate nonetheless moved this week to end support for the Saudi-led war against rebels in Yemen amid outrage over attacks on civilian sites including a school bus and hospitals.