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Russian President Vladimir V. Putin first stopped in the United Arab Emirates and then traveled to Saudi Arabia. He said the war between Israel and Hamas would feature prominently in their discussions.
By Vivian Nereim and Ivan Nechepurenko
Vivian Nereim reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Ivan Nechepurenko from Tbilisi, Georgia.
With his jets flanked by four fighter jets, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday began an occasional trip to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, two oil-rich Gulf countries that have resisted pressure to take sides in the war in Ukraine.
The talks focused on foreign crises, basically the two-month war between Israel and Hamas, a clash that has contributed to Davis’ geopolitical goals. Putin diverted Western leaders’ attention from the war in Ukraine.
Emirati President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan described Putin as a “dear friend” at the start of their talks and after Putin’s arrival. Putin in Saudi Arabia, the kingdom’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, called him “the kingdom’s most beloved guest.
“We have opportunities ahead of us in the future,” Prince Mohammed told the Russian leader in a video released through the Saudi government.
Putin told the crown prince that he had taken credit for his invitation “to come and communicate with you and all our friends,” and insisted that their next assembly “should take a stand in Moscow. “
Upon his arrival in the Emirati capital, Abu Dhabi, his first stop on the trip, Mr. Putin was greeted with pomp: His limousine drove through the grounds of a sprawling palace flanked by camels and Arabian horses whose riders held Russian flags. Jets trailed the Russian tricolor in the sky, and Mr. Putin was also welcomed with a 21-gun salute, the Emirati state news agency reported.
“We see Putin in the West as a pariah, but this scale in the West shows that he is welcome” elsewhere, said Anna Borshchevskaya, a Russia expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “The Kremlin’s foreign policy priorities continue to resonate outside the doors of the West, helping Putin continue his war against Ukraine. “
During their meeting, Putin and Sheikh Mohammed discussed the option of creating a “strategic partnership” between their countries, the official Emirati news firm reported. They also discussed the war in Gaza, the desire to work toward a permanent peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and progress in Ukraine, according to the report.
Sheikh Mohammed expressed his willingness to “build bridges of cooperation and progress with other countries around the world,” the Emirati news firm reported.
In their opening remarks, the two leaders highlighted the deepening of industrial and investment ties between their two countries, the Kremlin said in a statement.
Putin’s trip, announced through the Kremlin on Tuesday, comes amid an erosion of U. S. aid to Ukraine, which is desperately seeking more Western aid for its efforts to drive Russian forces from its territory.
Prior to his trip to Abu Dhabi, Putin had not traveled beyond China, Iran and the former Soviet states since he introduced the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
An Emirati political scientist, Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, downplayed the significance of Abdulla’s visit to Putin in the Emirates, calling it “symbolic. “
Abdulla said the Russian leader “has very few friends,” while the UAE “wants to be friends with everyone. “
In recent years, the Emirates has designed its foreign policy around hedging against its dependency on the United States.
The Emirati leader has visited Russia twice in the past two years and his country has been celebrated as guest of honour at Putin’s flagship investment in June.
Late Wednesday afternoon, Putin left the Emirates for Saudi Arabia and held talks with Prince Mohammed, the kingdom’s de facto ruler.
The Saudi crown prince also has maintained close links to Mr. Putin since the invasion of Ukraine, despite pressure from Western powers to isolate Russia. He has positioned himself as a potential mediator in the conflict.
Putin’s talks on the Middle East were the first in a series of diplomatic meetings planned for this week. On Thursday in Moscow, the Russian leader will meet with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, leader of a key player in the region.
The outbreak of the war in Gaza diverted attention from Ukraine and allowed the Kremlin to attract the sympathy of citizens in many emerging countries where the Palestinian cause is widespread.
Putin condemned the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, the armed organization that controls Gaza, in which 1,200 people were killed, according to Israeli authorities. He called it an act of terrorism and tried to maintain ties with Israel while claiming that the dominance of Western elites allowed the crisis to go away in the first place.
Grief and anger have spread across Arab countries since the Israeli army responded to the Hamas attack by bombing and invading Gaza, home to more than 2 million Palestinians.
The attack killed more than 16,000 people in Gaza, a bombing campaign of unprecedented intensity this century. In protests across the Middle East, others have expressed anger not only against Israel but also against the United States, Israel’s main foreign backer.
“We have noticed anti-Americanism at an unprecedented level,” said Abdulla, an Emirati political scientist.
But it is unclear to what extent Putin will gain advantages from this.
Mr. Abdulla said that despite the anger at the United States, one of the main messages Arab states had received since the war was that “America is back” — militarily and politically — after a long period during which regional leaders worried that U.S. interest in their region was waning.
“Putin can’t bring much to the stage in Gaza,” Abdulla said, calling Russia “irrelevant” to this war, in which the United States has been the dominant foreign actor.
In the Kremlin account of Mr. Putin’s arrival in Saudi Arabia, the Russian president told Prince Mohammed that it was important for them to share their assessments of “what is happening in the region,” and said their meeting was “certainly timely.”
In the kingdom, the world’s largest oil exporter, oil markets are also expected to be an issue on the calendar of talks. “Putin,” Borshchevskaya said.
Joint efforts on oil production, coordinated through the OPEC Plus organization of oil manufacturers, have contributed to the progression of strong ties over the years between Russia and Saudi Arabia and between Putin and the Saudi crown prince, especially after a deal has been closed. Intense oil war between the two leaders in 2020.
However this year, points of friction have opened again as Saudi Arabia leads OPEC Plus in an effort to slash oil production and prop up prices, with limited success so far. While the kingdom has made a voluntary oil production cut of 1 million barrels a day, Russia has contributed smaller cuts to its exports, but not its production — despite Saudi attempts to convince Russian officials to take more action.
When the two leaders began talks on Wednesday afternoon, Putin hinted that Prince Mohammed had cancelled or delayed a planned meeting in Moscow, without specifying when or why.
“We were waiting for him in Moscow,” he said. I know that cases have replaced plans. “
“But the next assembly will be in Moscow,” Putin added, to which Prince Mohammed replied: “No doubt. We are ready. “
Vivian Nereim is the Times’ senior reporter covering the countries of the Arabian Peninsula. It is located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Learn more about Vivian Néréim
Ivan Nechepurenko has been a journalist at The Times since 2015 and covers politics, economics and culture in Russia and the former Soviet republics. He grew up in St. Petersburg, Russia and Pyatykhatky, Ukraine. Learn more about Ivan Nechepurenko
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