The leak reveals that Saudi Arabia agreed to pay Russia over 2 billion euros under a contract signed in 2021 involving companies that were repeatedly sanctioned, both before and after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has been exporting arms to countries including Saudi Arabia, bolstering its economy after a barrage of sanctions followed its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

President Donald Trump doubled down on ending the war in Ukraine during his speech at Davos a day after threatening Russia and Putin with tariffs and sanctions.

Saudi Arabia plans to invest $600 billion in the US over the next four years, a move attributed to Donald Trump's solid relationships with the Saudi royal family. Concurrently, the US president has stated a desire to end the war in Ukraine with Saudi assistance by influencing global oil prices.

In fact, the Saudi Press Agency’s announcement that the kingdom would invest $600bn was based on the royal palace’s readout of a Wednesday phone call between Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. This is Trump’s first phone call with a foreign leader since his inauguration earlier this week.

Trump also said he would like to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate an end to the war, citing loss of life as a major concern. He claimed his administration had done more in four days than the previous regimes did in four years.

Addressing executives at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump minced no words as he accused the Saudis and OPEC of sustaining Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine by maintaining high oil prices.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said on Friday from Damascus that his country was engaged in an active dialogue with Europe and the U.S. to help lift economic sanctions imposed on Syria.

Trump in his first days in office has leaned in on the idea that OPEC+, the alliance of oil producing nations, holds the key to ending the war by reducing oil prices.

China is responding to Trump's energy-centric executive actions with a global diplomatic blitz. China courts the Middle East without push back from Washington.

Mongolia expects to sign green hydrogen and renewable energy agreements with Saudi Arabia worth several billion dollars over the next few months and is in talks with the United Arab Emirates for similar investments,