During the war in Russia, Saudi Arabia purchased weapons worth over 2 billion euros.

Russia has exported expensive weapons to other countries since the onset of its invasion of Ukraine, continuing contracts established prior to February 24, 2022, even during the war.

This is reported by OCCRP and Kyiv Independent, citing internal documents from "Roselktronika," a subsidiary of "Rostec."

Following the invasion, Saudi Arabia, China, India, Algeria, and Egypt continued to purchase weapons from Russia, as indicated by the documents. Experts interviewed by OCCRP warn that acquiring Russian arms poses a risk of secondary sanctions from the U.S. for these countries.

Under one agreement, Saudi Arabia was set to pay €2.2 billion to "Rosoboronexport" (also a subsidiary of "Rostec") for the supply of 39 Pantsir-S1M air defense systems, 10 mobile command posts, as well as hundreds of missiles, additional vehicles, and communication systems.

According to the documents obtained by investigators, part of the equipment was delivered in 2023, which is a year after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The deal may have allowed Russia to familiarize itself with the Patriot air defense systems that Saudi Arabia purchased from the U.S., OCCRP notes. The Russian side requested and received approval to visit Saudi air defense facilities in 2022, as revealed in leaked emails.

This procurement became known in October 2024, when the Ukrainian website Defense Express published the information, and now investigators have obtained documentary confirmation.

In addition to details about the purchase of the "Pantsir," investigators also acquired a 69-page appendix discussing future cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Russian firms that are under sanctions.

The document outlines three potential contracts.

One of these involves the construction of maintenance facilities, another entails the establishment of a 15,000 m² training center in Jeddah for personnel on the "Pantsir" system. The third potential contract involves building an assembly plant in Saudi Arabia for the production of "Pantsir" systems and munitions.

In October 2022, Saudi Arabia pledged $400 million in humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

However, the country abstained from voting on more than half of the UN resolutions concerning Russia's war against Ukraine.

The Saudi Ministry of Defense did not respond to journalists' inquiries regarding these defense contracts.