Saudi Arabia’s defense minister has implied that Washington, not Kiev, was behind the rumors
Riyadh is perplexed by accusations that the Kingdom is “standing with Russia,” Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman said on Saturday. The prince implied that the rumors were the work of Washington, where the administration of US President Joe Biden reacted with shock to Saudi Arabia’s recent push for an oil production cut.
“We are astonished by the accusations that the kingdom is standing with Russia in its war with Ukraine,” Khalid tweeted on Sunday, adding: “It is telling that these false accusations did not come from the Ukrainian government.”
We are astonished by the accusations that the kingdom is standing with Russia in its war with Ukraine. It is telling that these false accusations did not come from the Ukrainian government. https://t.co/YIz441YinT
— Khalid bin Salman خالد بن سلمان (@kbsalsaud) October 16, 2022
The prince linked to a tweet by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, in which Zelensky thanked Saudi Arabia for voting at the UN to condemn the accession of four formerly Ukrainian territories into the Russian Federation, and for working on prisoner swaps and pledging financial aid to Kiev.
Saudi Arabia leads the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). OPEC+, which counts Russia among its non-member partners, announced last week that it would cut oil production by 2 million barrels per day, a move that will likely buoy the price of Russian oil on the global markets and raise gas prices in the US ahead of a crucial midterm election for Biden’s Democratic Party next month.
Although the production cut was decided “unanimously,” and for “purely economic reasons, some accused the Kingdom of standing with Russia,” the prince wrote in a separate tweet. “Iran is also a member of OPEC, does this mean that the Kingdom is standing with Iran as well?”