Saudi Arabia Astonished By Claims It Is Siding With Russia In Ukraine: Defense Minister

By

Saudi Arabia is astonished by accusations that the Kingdom is siding with Russia in its war with Ukraine, Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman said on Sunday.

Retweeting a Twitter post by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanking Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for supporting Ukraine’s territorial integrity and announcing Saudi aid to the country, Prince Khalid said it was telling that “these false accusations did not come from the Ukrainian government.”

The minister said that some were accusing the Kingdom of standing with Russia despite the fact that the decision taken by OPEC+ on Oct.5 to cut production by 2 million barrels per day was unanimous and “due to purely economic reasons.”

“Iran is also a member of OPEC, does this mean that the Kingdom is standing with Iran as well?” the minister asked.

Meanwhile, the secretary general of OPEC Haitham Al-Ghais said on Sunday that the organization does not target a specific price, but rather targets balance between supply and demand.

“Slow economic growth reflects on oil demand and OPEC+ took a pre-emptive decision,” he said.

“The stability of oil markets is important for the future, it is not only about today. Our decisions are purely technical,” the official said.

Arab News

Arab News is Saudi Arabia's first English-language newspaper. It was founded in 1975 by Hisham and Mohammed Ali Hafiz. Today, it is one of 29 publications produced by Saudi Research & Publishing Company (SRPC), a subsidiary of Saudi Research & Marketing Group (SRMG).

2 thoughts on “Saudi Arabia Astonished By Claims It Is Siding With Russia In Ukraine: Defense Minister

  • October 17, 2022 at 4:24 am
    Permalink

    It’s strictly business.

    Reply
  • October 17, 2022 at 9:10 am
    Permalink

    Does Saudi Arabia not think that war is also an economic issue? That is the reason for the economic sanctions and pressures other countries have been putting on Russia, to influence them into halting their invasion and returning the lands, while S.A. is aiding Russia even while sending aid to Ukraine. Russia wants Ukraine’s resources. Obviously they don’t care about the people, nor their at least partly shared histories and religions. As far as the politics goes….. I would think, under the circumstances, that if Ukraine were becoming terribly Nazified, all those neighboring nations in Europe would be extremely worried, considering their history with the Nazis. The EU would be quite interested in halting that themselves!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *