Riyadh-Mubasher: Russian officials changed their views about Saudi Arabia’s oil market after a week of severe criticism about the kingdom’s new oil policy with the Eastern European states.

This indicates that Russia seeks to do a final maneuver to save its position, especially after the kingdom has succeeded in weakening the dominance of Russian oil on the Eastern European markets, Gulfnewspaper reported.

After criticizing Saudi Arabia for establishing an oil market in East Europe, the Russian officials said the biggest Opec producer will not be able to maintain the discounted crude prices offered to refiners in Eastern Europe.

Saudi Arabia has priced its oil at a six-year low for Europe after starting to ship crude to traditional Russian markets such as Poland.

The discounted crude is a temporary situation and it won’t work for a long period, said Nikolay Tokarev, CEO of Russia’s state-run oil pipeline operator Transneft OJSC.

Oil executives in Russia, which ships almost 70% of its crude to Europe, last month criticised Saudi Arabia’s strategy even before it dropped its December price for the northwest of the continent to lowest since February 2009.