WASHINGTON, July 15 – RIA Novosti. US President Joe Biden, who came to Saudi Arabia, was greeted by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, who created a controversy due to the statements of the American leader about the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Footage circulating in the White House pool shows Biden getting out of the car and arriving from Jeddah airport for official events. The crown prince walks towards him. Instead of shaking hands, the US President punches Salman. A possible meeting, handshake and discussion of Khashoggi’s murder did not leave the agenda of the American media. The administration said that the prince will participate in multilateral events and that the president will raise the issue of human rights, as always.

US relations with Saudi Arabia have deteriorated since Biden took power amid allegations of human rights situation and military action in Yemen. Biden pledged during his campaign to turn Saudi Arabia into a “rogue state” for the Khashoggi affair. American intelligence stated that the crown prince of the kingdom was directly involved in the murder of a dissident journalist.

In April, US media reported that during a recent visit to the Middle East by US presidential adviser Jake Sullivan, the crown prince raised his voice because the interlocutor raised the issue of the murder of a journalist and said that he no longer wanted to discuss it. He advised the US to forget about the demands made to the kingdom to increase oil production.

Prominent Saudi journalist Khashoggi has lived in the United States since 2017 and worked for the Washington Post. He was killed in Istanbul in October 2018. Saudi authorities initially denied that he had disappeared from the country’s diplomatic mission, but were forced to admit that Khashoggi had been killed “as a result of an argument with consular officials” shortly after the video and audio recordings came to light. Turkish police never found his body. Arab media, criticizing the actions of Saudi officials, suggested that the order to kill Khashoggi may have been given by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who claimed the throne in the kingdom. However, the kingdom’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has repeatedly stated that the crown prince had nothing to do with this crime.