Russian President speaks with Qatar, Bahrain’s leaders on the phone

Moscow is trying to tread cautiously in the dispute, since it wants good relations with both Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Russia backs President Bashar al-Assad in the six-year-long Syria conflict and is close to Iran, which has fraught ties with the Saudis, Reuters explained.

Moscow sold a stake in its state oil champion Rosneft (ROSN.MM) to Qatar last year and has been coordinating oil output cuts with the Saudis as part of a global pact to lift oil prices, according to Reuters.

Reuters said that the Kremlin, which announced the phone calls with the leaders of Qatar and Bahrain in two separate statements on its website on Saturday, did not say when they happened. It clarified that they happened on the initiative of Qatar and Bahrain.

“Vladimir Putin stressed the importance of political-diplomatic efforts aimed at overcoming differences of opinion and the normalization of the difficult situation that exists,” said the statement on the talks between Putin and Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, Reuters added.

The Russian and Qatari leaders also discussed cooperation between their countries in energy and investment. Putin told Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa that there should be direct dialogue between all sides of the dispute with Qatar. The Kremlin said last month that it was in Russia’s interest for there to be a “stable and peaceful” situation in the Gulf, according to Reuters.