Russian President Vladimir Putin made a rare visit to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia this week.
After Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Kyiv’s allies, led through the United States, attempted to isolate Russia from the global monetary formula through sanctions. The International Criminal Court (ICC), to which the UAE is a signatory, has issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader for war crimes, adding to the alleged abduction of young people in Ukraine.
Although Putin’s visit on Wednesday was greeted with great fanfare across the Gulf state, some social media accounts said the Russian leader had possibly earned a bloodless reception at some point, with a video purportedly showing a line of officials avoiding shaking his hand.
A post on X, formerly Twitter, via user @Heroiam_Slava, on December 7, 2023, viewed 115,500 times, showed a line of other people marching towards the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Almost everyone in line shakes hands with Al Nahyan, but not with Putin.
A caption of the video read: “No handshake for Putin. “
Facts
Putin’s stopover in the United Arab Emirates proved remarkably decorative, with planes painted in the colors of the Russian flag in the sky as his country’s insignia flew through the streets of Abu Dhabi as his convoy, accompanied by cavalry, passed by.
Therefore, seeing the president being snubbed by what appeared to be a long line of delegates is out of step with the situation.
As it turns out, this was all part of what appeared to be an introductory welcoming session between Russian and UAE officials. The group in the video on X were all Russian officials, and can be seen in one clip published by Gulf News; among them were Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov and Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.
In the X clip, a member of the organization broke away to shake Putin’s hand. He is Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, one of the officials who participated in the trip. Kadyrov appears clearly in other photographs of Putin’s meeting with UAE delegates.
The Russian officials appeared to have been instructed to shake Al Nahyan’s hand alone. The greeting custom was returned to Putin by UAE officials.
Putin visited the United Arab Emirates as part of a “working visit” as well as neighboring Saudi Arabia, the Kremlin said Wednesday. The meeting with President Al Nahyan reportedly “focused on the current state of multifaceted bilateral cooperation” as well as the scenario. in the Middle East.
The Kremlin said Putin was also due to speak with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh, with talks focusing on “bilateral cooperation and trade,” as well as “the regional and international agenda.”
The Ruling
FALSE.
The other people in the video were not snubbing Vladimir Putin. The organization was made up of Russian officials who appeared to have been told to shake hands only with the president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, as part of a ritual welcoming the recent stopover. Putin. to the Gulf state.
Other photographs posted online showed the UAE officials greeting Putin.
FACT-CHECKING BY Newsweek’s fact-checking team
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