The Russian chief has been bolstering his partnerships with Gulf nations as Moscow faces rising isolation by the West.
Escorted by 4 fighter jets, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a uncommon one-day lightning tour to the Middle East throughout which he visited the United Arab Emirates earlier than departing for Saudi Arabia.
Putin landed on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, which is internet hosting the United Nations COP28 local weather talks.
He was escorted to the presidential palace, the place he was greeted with a 21-gun salute and a flyby of UAE navy jets trailing smoke within the colors of the Russian flag.
The Gulf nation’s President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan known as Putin his “dear friend”.
“I am happy to meet you again,” Sheikh Mohammed stated. He later issued a press release saying they mentioned “the importance of strengthening dialogue and cooperation to ensure stability and progress”.
The Russian chief echoed these sentiments.
“Our relations, largely due to your position, have reached an unprecedentedly high level,” Putin informed Sheikh Mohammed. “The UAE is Russia’s main trading partner in the Arab world.”
The assembly was a part of Russia’s quest to stake out a extra influential function within the Middle East, with oil cooperation and the Israel-Hamas warfare on the agenda.
The two leaders mentioned, amongst different issues, bilateral cooperation within the vitality business and superior applied sciences, in line with Russia’s state-owned TASS information company.
Putin then jetted off to Riyadh, the place he’ll meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, TASS reported – their first face-to-face assembly since October 2019.
Putin’s assembly with the prince, referred to as MBS, got here after oil costs fell, regardless of a pledge by OPEC+, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in addition to allies led by Russia, to additional cut back output.
However, it was not instantly clear what Putin, who has hardly ever left Russia because the begin of the Ukraine warfare, supposed to boost particularly about oil or geopolitics with the crown prince of the world’s largest crude exporter.
On Thursday, Putin will host the Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Moscow. Following that, the UAE will welcome Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday and Saturday.
Putin’s uncommon journey to the area is his first since July 2022, when he met Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Iran.
The Russian chief has made few worldwide journeys after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for him in March, accusing him of deporting Ukrainian youngsters.
Neither the UAE nor Saudi Arabia have signed the ICC’s founding treaty, and will not be obligated to arrest him if he enters their territories.
On Israel’s two-month bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip, Putin has decried the warfare as a failure of the United States diplomacy. He has steered Moscow may as a substitute play the function of a mediator on account of its pleasant ties with each Israel and the Palestinians.
Putin’s Middle East journey can also be part of his efforts to display that Western makes an attempt to isolate Moscow by sanctions for its warfare on Ukraine have failed.
“He seems to be pretty delighted to be on the ground in Abu Dhabi,” stated James Bays, Al Jazeera’s diplomatic editor. It is unclear how this go to shall be seen in Washington, because the UAE additionally has shut ties with the US, he added.
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