Majority owned by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the Kingdom made the investments even as Western leaders sought to increase pressure on Moscow and threatened sanctions against Russia, which they began imposing in late February. The roughly $500 million in investments included $364 million in Gazprom in February, with the rest going to Rosneft and Lukoil this month and in March. President Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Prince Alwaleed, a Saudi billionaire, was detained in 2017 at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh along with other tycoons and royals in what authorities called a corruption sweep. Critics said it was a powerplay by rising Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to consolidate his position against a powerful old guard. The state said it recovered $100 billion in illegal funds. Prince Alwaleed, whose grandfather founded Saudi Arabia, was released after reaching a deal with the government, although he never disclosed the details. Other tycoons were released after transferring funds or partially ceding control of their companies to the government.

The government’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, said it acquired a 16.8 percent stake in Kingdom Holding in May, months after the investments. But it would be unlikely for a major Saudi company to make major investments in Russia without the government’s blessing, given Western pressure on Moscow. Other investments disclosed on Sunday include a $220 million investment in Phoenix Group, a UK pensions and savings company, and $221 million in M&G Investment Management. He also made investments in Uber, Lyft, Alibaba and BlackRock TCP Capital. Kingdom Holding said these were part of a three-year investment strategy totaling $3.4 billion. The company has investments in the Four Season hotel chain and also owns a stake in Twitter. Saudi Arabia has cultivated close ties with Russia, with the two countries cooperating in OPEC+ to produce oil. Its ties with Washington have been strained since President Joe Biden took office after he promised during his campaign to make Saudi Arabia a pariah over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents. The CIA said Prince Mohammed was in charge of the “capture or kill” operation against Khashoggi, which the prince denied. Biden has since been forced to backtrack on his pledge and visited the country in July, meeting with Prince Mohammed as he pushed for more oil production to offset rising prices and inflation.