
Qatar’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, told CNN’s Becky Anderson in an interview that investment in Russia is currently “under a lot of review” and Qatar is not thinking about increasing its investments there until there is a “better environment and more political stability.”
“Right now with the current situation we are not thinking about any new investments there. Even in Europe, until we have some clarity on the stability of the situation … Well, not entire Europe, but the areas where we are feeling that there are some tensions or we might have any political risk, because we have to look at it from all the dimensions,” Al-Thani told CNN on the sidelines of the Doha Forum.
The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) has sizable investments in the Russian oil giant Rosneft, which Al-Thani said was a decision made based on “commercial assessment and is still ongoing,” however, will not increase for the time being.
While Qatar’s stance is against any act of aggression or the use of power against a sovereign country, the foreign minister says he has been keeping his communication channels open with all parties. He said he speaks to his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts frequently to “offer our help or contribution to de-escalate the situation and put an end to this war," and was in Moscow recently meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
“What I believe and from my conversation with my counterpart there in Russia is that they are willing to engage on the demands that they have put forward. Now, how far the Ukrainian government is willing to give on those demands, this is really the Ukrainian government and Ukrainian people’s decision … We should focus on having a ceasefire, humanitarian corridors, bringing the humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and instead of having this conflict and disagreement in a battlefield, to be around the table,”
Qatar has often played a mediation role in de-escalating conflicts and bringing adversaries to the table, especially between the Taliban and the United States and between the West and Iran over the JCPOA. The Foreign Minister told CNN he believes this policy is the best way forward.