Why G7's economic policy toward Russia might alienate Saudi Arabia

The Group of Seven's policy toward Russia over the country's 2022 invasion of Ukraine is proving unpopular with other countries close to the group, including Saudi Arabia, experts have told Al-Monitor.

Publicly, Riyadh has not taken sides in the Ukraine war and has called for a cease-fire. In August last year, the kingdom hosted an international summit in Jeddah for peace talks, but although Ukrainian, Western and Chinese officials attended, their Russian counterparts were not invited.

But Russia remains an important relation for the Gulf state, which privately hinted earlier this year that it might sell some European debt holdings if the G7 decides to seize almost $300 billion of Russia’s frozen assets, Bloomberg reported on July 9, citing sources familiar with the matter. The newswire reported that those assets were frozen by the G7 after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 26, 2022.

Separately, in June 2024 at the G7 summit in Italy, the group of seven wealthy countries — the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan — agreed to use another $50 billion in frozen Russian assets to help Ukraine fight its neighbor.