Home › Security › What did NATO and Riyadh signal on 12 July 2024?
What did NATO and Riyadh signal on 12 July 2024?
Summary
A look back at reports on frozen Russian assets, strikes on Odesa Oblast and NATO's language on China in the days before 12 July 2024.
What was the security picture as of 12 July 2024? Reports from the preceding days pointed to pressure on several fronts: diplomatic, financial and military.
NATO's statement on China
On 10 July 2024, all 32 NATO member states approved an official statement at the Washington summit classifying China as a "decisive enabler" of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The statement cited the "no-limits" economic and political partnership between Beijing and Moscow.
Frozen assets and Saudi warnings
Also on 10 July 2024, Bloomberg reported that Saudi Arabia had warned the G7 earlier in the year that it would sell off Eurobonds and French bonds if the G7 went ahead with seizing US$280 billion in frozen Russian assets to give to Ukraine. The report put a spotlight on the financial stakes of the sanctions debate.
Strikes on Odesa Oblast
The war itself continued on the ground. On 10 July 2024, Russian drone and missile attacks on a port in southern Odesa Oblast killed two Ukrainians. The strikes damaged port infrastructure, an energy facility and a civilian ship.
Taken together, the reports from those days show the war being fought in several arenas at once: in alliance statements, in the markets and at Ukraine's southern ports.
