The room where the King of Saudi Arabia lived. The delegation of the King of Saudi Arabia gave cash to Moscow hotels
The King of Saudi Arabia, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, has settled in Moscow with oriental luxury. MIR 24 correspondent Vladimir Seroukhov visited a fashionable hotel, which was completely purchased by the monarch.
The King of Saudi Arabia at night in the hotel " Ritz Carlton"on Tverskaya Street with its large delegation - more than a thousand people. This is the monarch's first visit to Russia, and the luxury with which it is carried out is simply amazing. The delegation will travel around the city in cars of the most prestigious brands - top-end Mercedes, BMW, Jaguars and other luxury cars. The cost of each ranges from 6 to 10 million rubles - one might say, an apartment on wheels. There was even a story that the number of cars in the escort was equal to the number of letters in the king’s name, and it was quite complex - Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud.
The dear guest himself stayed in one of the most prestigious hotels in the capital, the Ritz Carlton, and simply bought up all 334 rooms. The most luxurious of them costs 112 thousand rubles per day. The monarch will most likely feel cramped in one, even a luxury, room. He probably bought the whole floor for himself. By the way, the interiors of the Ritz were remodeled in the Arabic style; many brought their own carpets and furniture with them. The entire hotel per day will cost the king 14 million rubles per day, for 4 days (the length of his visit) - about 60.
However, the Ritz alone, of course, is not enough, so for the duration of the visit, all hotels in the center of Moscow are booked for accompanying persons - the Four Season, the National, and the Marriott.
It is estimated that hosting the retinue will cost an additional 160 million rubles. We add the price of the Ritz and we get that the delegation’s accommodation alone comes out to a quarter of a billion rubles.
Although this amount looks small compared to the multi-billion dollar contracts and investments that will be discussed in the Kremlin, which, by the way, the sheikhs, princes and ministers who will live near Red Square all these days have a wonderful view of.
It is believed that the king of Saudi Arabia descends from the Prophet Muhammad himself. The monarch arrived in Moscow wearing a keffiyeh - a cotton or silk scarf with a colored pattern, traditional for Eastern men.
King Salman's clothing is always the national loose shirt, ankle-length. It's called "tobe". And a long cloak - mishlakh, without which the king never goes out. The king's cloak is most often gold in color, but can be green or brown.
Interestingly, all Saudi Arabian officials are required to wear national clothes during visits abroad. This was done in order to emphasize the national identity and introduce the world to the traditions of the kingdom.
Saudi Arabia occupies about 80 percent of the Arabian Peninsula. Due to the fact that its borders are not clearly defined, the exact area of the country is not known. According to various sources, it can range from 1,960,582 km² to 2,240,000 km². Which puts it 13th in size in the world.
Saudi Arabia is often called the land of the “two holy holy places.” There are two main cities for Muslims - Medina. By the way, Saudi Arabia is one of three modern states named after their rulers. In this case we mean the Saudi dynasty.
The Kingdom is a world leader in oil sales and production. Thus, only the largest field in the country, Gavar, can accommodate almost 5 million Olympic swimming pools. The country's oil reserves amount to 260 billion barrels.
It is profitable to take in Saudi Arabia. Banks issue them at only 2% per annum. Since the Koran prohibits usury, the specified percentage goes only to cover the operating expenses of the bank.
In Saudi Arabia, everything that is directly or indirectly related to witchcraft and magic is prohibited. This is considered a serious crime and may be punishable by death penalty. The government takes the magical threat so seriously that it has even banned the Harry Potter books.
Widespread in Saudi Arabia. In 2015, the authorities held them every other day. In most cases, execution is carried out by cutting off the head with a scimitar. Diera Square in the center of Riyadh – famous place public beheadings, known locally as “chop-chop square.”
Russian officials prepared an impressive reception for the 81-year-old monarch of Saudi Arabia, Salman Abdulaziz Al Saud, who arrived in Moscow the day before on a state visit. In the Russian capital these days, in the New Manege, the widely publicized Saudi Arabian Culture Week is taking place, an exhibition of national art of this country is opening, the whole city is covered with posters in Arabic, and on the way from Vnukovo-2 airport, the king was greeted by billboards with his own photographs.
Moscow welcomes the king on a scale that is rarely accorded to foreign leaders. The Saudi delegation, with its grandiose travel style, has taken over the entire Moscow Ritz-Carlton, reports The Washington Post. And this is not surprising, because the monarch of the richest Arab country is used to traveling with appropriate ceremonies: for example, for a visit to Japan this spring, the king and his delegation needed 10 planes, 500 tons of luggage and 1,200 rooms in best hotels. And to Indonesia, the king brought 1,500 accompanying people, including 25 princes, and 450 tons of things, in particular two Mercedes-Benz S600 cars and two escalators. Such a special personal ladder also came to Russia, but refused to work on Russian soil.
During the visit of the King of Saudi Arabia, all the available rooms in the most fashionable hotels around the Kremlin and Red Square were occupied by his retinue. At five-star Ritz-Carlton hotels, Four Seasons,St. Regis, "National" in the area of Manezhnaya Square, Lubyanka and Kuznetsky Most there are no free places left - such a situation with a complete lack of rooms rarely occurs. All issues are sold out until October 7th.
A representative of one of the hotels said that the hotel management had to cancel several events that were planned for these days. Pork dishes have been removed from the hotel menu. And the furnishings in many rooms were changed to something more familiar to guests - in oriental style. Moreover, their favorite carpets were brought specially from Saudi Arabia for several high-ranking members of the delegation, RIA Novosti reports.
The cost of a double room in this hotel starts from 41 thousand rubles per night. A room with a view of Manezhnaya Square costs 59 thousand, with a view of the Kremlin and Alexander Garden - 137 thousand. The most expensive and spacious rooms (about 500 square meters in area) cost about a million rubles per day.
In total, the Saudi delegation numbers about a thousand people, and all of them had to be accommodated in hotels in close proximity to the Kremlin.
Not just a delegation, but the entire elite of Saudi Arabia arrived in Moscow. As former Russian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Andrei Baklanov told BFM, “The Saudis are distinguished by a particularly painstaking approach to preparing and conducting top-level visits.” “Everything must be planned out and then, according to this carefully thought-out scenario, carried out. They first send a large advanced group to the country where the event will take place, which works in different areas of the program. It accompanies quite a large number of family members of the ruling dynasty and officials - employees of ministries and departments, business representatives and simply people who perform technical service," says Baklanov.
Meeting the Custodian of the Two Islamic Holy Places, as the kings of Saudi Arabia are often called, is, on the one hand, easy, but on the other, difficult. It’s easy because they always bring everything they need with them, including servants, but it’s difficult because Saudi monarchs are not only one of the richest people on the planet, but also the most demanding. Moreover, not so much because of his exclusivity and wealth, but because of his advanced age (Salman is 81 years old) and poor health.
The first visit of the Saudi monarch to Russia was no exception to this, which has already become the rule. According to tradition, we can say that Salman ibn Abdul-Aziz al Saud brought with him a retinue of one and a half thousand people and everything necessary for a four-day visit, from carpets and furniture to servants who know the habits and tastes of their master and replace individual hotel employees. Salman settled a couple of hundred meters from the Kremlin, in the Four Seasons Hotel Moscow, better known to Muscovites as the Moscow Hotel (demolished and rebuilt in the last decade).
The hotel was closed for four days to other visitors, including even those who live there permanently. The Saudis also rented all 334 rooms at the nearby Ritz-Carlton for 14 million rubles per day, and booked rooms at the nearby National and at the Marriott.
Fans of statistics have calculated that living in Moscow alone will cost Riyadh at least 250 million rubles. For the Saudi monarch this is quite a bit. At least because it summer rest in Moroccan Tangier this year cost his subjects $100 million.
In addition to furniture and carpets, King Salman also brought to Moscow a special gold-plated escalator, with which he travels around the world. The same one in which some kind of malfunction occurred on Wednesday at Vnukovo 2 airport. The escalator stopped halfway, so the monarch had to go down, as they say, under his own power. Naturally, Salman moves around Moscow in his own cars. From the fleet of vehicles that arrived in the Russian capital from Saudi Arabia, you can recognize all the brands of the most expensive and luxurious limousines.
The king and his retinue eat exclusively Saudi products. Every day, a special plane brings 800 kilograms of food and drinks from Riyadh.
It is difficult to name the exact number of Saudi planes that arrived in Moscow on October 4. Obviously there are many of them. It is known, for example, that in March King Salman flew on an official visit to Japan on 10 airliners, which brought almost five thousand tons of luggage.
When it comes to foreign travel, Salman is no different from his predecessors. King Fahd (1982-2005), for example, loved to vacation in Marbella, Spain. The number of his retinue sometimes reached two or three thousand people. In 2002, he flew to the seaside resort on 7 planes: five carried the royal retinue of four hundred people, and the other two carried exclusively food, armored limousines and luggage. On average, King Fahd left for summer season in Marbella about 100 million dollars. However, in 2002 he set a record and left the Spaniards with almost a third of a billion.
This time, the Saudis will not have time to fork out such a sum in Moscow, but it is already clear that the Russian side made decent money on the king’s visit, even regardless of the business contracts that are discussed during the visit.
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It is estimated that the accommodation of the Saudi king and his retinue in Moscow hotels cost $3.3 million
Kremlin press service
Travel service OneTwoTrip calculated that the accommodation of the delegation of the King of Saudi Arabia in five-star hotels in Moscow cost 2.5 - 3.3 million dollars.
The king's delegation of 1 thousand people stayed at the Four Seasons, Ritz Carlton, St. Regis, National, the statement said. From 2.2 million to 3.3 million dollars was the cost of living in all rooms Hotel Four Seasons, as well as in suites, standard and superior rooms at the Ritz Carlton, St. Regis, National.
The cost of accommodation for three nights in just one Four Seasons, the rooms of which were purchased in full for the delegation, could be $738 thousand, excluding price adjustments for group bookings. The hotel has 180 rooms: 139 rooms, 39 suites, 1 presidential suite and 1 royal suite. The cost of living per day in the last two is at least 1 million rubles, a night in a “standard” room, depending on the view from the window, from 35 to 60 thousand rubles, in a suite from 80 to 200 thousand rubles.
In addition, the service suggested that the furnishings in the rooms were changed especially for the king’s arrival: carpets were added, the furniture was changed.
The 81-year-old King of Saudi Arabia, Salman Ben-Abdel Aziz Al Saud, arrived in Russia the day before. He met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. As Kommersant reports, following negotiations between the leaders of Russia and Saudi Arabia, agreements were reached on the purchase by Riyadh of S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft missile systems. In addition, a contract was concluded to organize the production of Kalashnikov assault rifles in Saudi Arabia and a memorandum was signed on the purchase and localization of TOS-1A heavy flamethrower systems, Kornet-EM anti-tank missile systems and AGS-30 grenade launchers.
The King of Saudi Arabia is famous for his love of luxury. During a recent visit to Indonesia, he was accompanied by 1 thousand people, and his luggage weighed about 500 tons. Salman Al Saud's visit to Japan was carried out on 10 planes. He brought with him 500 limousines and two golden escalators.
The Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh returned to normal operating hours on Sunday. For 99 days, from the beginning of November, it served as a detention center for 381 high-ranking officials; Princes, businessmen and officials were detained during Saudi Arabia's largest anti-corruption investigation.
The campaign, led by Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, began unexpectedly. On November 4, an influential citizen was summoned to appear before King Salman at the Ritz-Carlton. But instead of the king, armed people met him there and took him away. mobile phone and escorted to one of the hotel rooms. “They told me I would be staying there for a while,” he recalls.
The investigators who questioned him had extensive information, presenting large stacks of documents about his financial assets. During the “long, tedious” interrogations, they methodically reviewed them, but did not make any significant claims against the suspect. He was told that he was being detained as part of an anti-corruption investigation, but could be released if he entered into an agreement and paid for his violations, which he eventually did. According to him, some of the detainees tried to dispute the charges, but made concessions when their business partners were brought to the hotel and began to testify against them. “They didn’t expect this,” he says.
The anti-corruption campaign was greeted with enthusiasm in Saudi society. According to the government, agreements with detainees have been concluded for $106 billion, and several dozen people may face trial.
Interviews with detainees and their loved ones shed light on the actual conditions of detention. Some had their meals prepared by royal chefs, but were only allowed one telephone conversation per day. Others had to endure hours of interrogation, but for a certain price, all corruption charges were offered to be dropped.
Saudi Arabia's Treasury Ministry has hired consulting firms in Europe and the Middle East to track the assets of wealthy Saudis such as billionaire Mohammad al-Amoudi and Prince Bandar bin Sultan, a former ambassador to the United States, people familiar with the matter said. Al-Amoudi was held at the Ritz-Carlton in November and his current status is unknown, his spokesman said, adding that the businessman has not admitted wrongdoing. A spokesman for bin Sultan, who was not detained, did not respond to a request for comment.
Among the prisoners were Saudi Arabia's richest businessman, Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal; Bakr bin Laden, head of the Saudi Binladin construction company; owner of the largest media company in the country, Waleed bin Ibrahim; several ministers.
$13 billion
- That's how much Saudi Arabia hopes to replenish its coffers by the end of the year thanks to payments to those detained as part of an anti-corruption campaign, the Financial Times reported, citing a senior Saudi official. This will be money, real estate and corporate assets. These funds will help the government limit the growth of the budget deficit, which is expected to reach $52 billion this year.
The Ritz-Carlton was built in 2011 and has more than 500 rooms, including 48 presidential suites, a 24-hour medical aid station and olive trees that are approximately 600 years old. The hotel is located near the seat of the Saudi government.
Some prisoners say they were treated well. Thus, Al-Waleed bin Talal, in a video interview with Reuters, which was shown on television, said that in the kitchen in his room there are several special coffee pots for traditional Arabic coffee and the authorities allow him to adhere to his usual vegan diet. Near the entrance to the room there is a vase with tulips, and on the wall there is a large-screen TV. “I play sports, swim, walk. I eat as always. I feel at home,” said bin Talal (pictured below is the living room in his room).
/Reuters Staff
High-ranking prisoners were kept in so-called royal rooms, a hotel employee explained. Each of them has two bedrooms, a dining room, two living rooms, an office and a kitchen.
The Saudi Arabian Prosecutor General said at the end of January that most of the prisoners had already been released: evidence could not be found against some, and most agreed to a deal with the authorities. They demanded $6 billion from bin Talal, The Wall Street Journal reported. But even the billionaire prince found it difficult to pay such a sum. He was released in January after reaching a financial agreement with authorities, according to people familiar with the situation; its size is not reported.
65 people refused to pay; they are in custody, the location of which has not been disclosed.
The first guests to stay at the hotel on Sunday after it reopened say little has changed. However, “The Ritz will now always be associated with luxury prison in Saudi Arabia,” says Simon Henderson, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Some Western analysts see what happened as a campaign by Crown Prince Salman to consolidate his power. "If you're a potential investor, this doesn't bode well for you," says Bruce Riedel of the Brookings Institution.
Translated by Varvara Podrugina
