An extraordinary exchange between French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has been caught on video.
The French President was caught telling Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince “you never listen to me” at a summit in Argentina.
Macron spoke to bin Salman for five minutes on the side of the G20 summit in Buenos Aires.
A video of their chat is believed to show the French leader chiding the prince over the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
New video of #MBS and #Macron pic.twitter.com/QaupGdEiGF
— Bendar Amri (@Bandr14Ksa) November 30, 2018
Much of it is inaudible but Macron could be heard saying “I do worry. I am worried… I told you.”
The prince replied: “Yes, you told me. Thank you very much.”
“You never listen to me,” Macron said, before the smiling prince replied: “No, I listen, of course.”
Macron then said: “Because I told you. It was more important for you,” before later adding: “I am a man of my word.”
At one point in the exchange, bin Salman could be heard saying: “It’s OK I can deal with it.”
The French government said the video showed “a sort of contrast between the prince’s face sporting an embarrassed smile and the president’s face, which was rather stern and was keen to convey these messages in a very firm manner.”
An official confirmed the pair spoke about Khashoggi and the war in Yemen.
The murder of Khashoggi has caused widespread backlash against the Saudi regime, which had recently enjoyed an exceptionally friendly relationship with countries like the U.S. and France.
The Saudi government has admitted that its officials were responsible for the murder of Khashoggi, who was a U.S. resident and a columnist for The Washington Post, but Saudi Arabia claims that the crown prince was not responsible.
At least five Saudi officials have been handed the death penalty over the murder.
Earlier in the summit the Saudi Crown Prince and Russian President Vladimir Putin were seen greeting each other with a high five.
Salman, who has been accused by the international community of ordering the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and Putin, who has faced claims he ordered the nerve attack on Sergei Skripal in Britain, were pictured hand-in-hand during the second day in Buenos Aires.
The Russian leader has also been put under increasing pressure in recent days after warships rammed, fired on, then seized three Ukrainian boats in the Kerch Strait in a serious escalation of tensions around Crimea.
The leaders could not resist a rye smile ahead of their meeting, where they discussed oil, according to a Kremlin spokesman.