Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in St. Petersburg on Tuesday. According to Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the conversation will take place in a one-on-one format.
The Kremlin did not announce the topics of the upcoming talks. According to the UAE government newspaper Al Bayan, it is planned to discuss friendly relations between the UAE and Russia, as well as regional and international issues of mutual interest. According to the UAE foreign ministry, the president's visit is aimed at "achieving effective political solutions" to the crisis in Ukraine.
Longtime acquaintance
This will be Putin's first meeting with Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan since he took over as UAE president in May. However, the leaders have known each other for a long time, having met many times in previous years, when Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan was Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, deputy supreme commander of the UAE Armed Forces.
In 2018 in Moscow, they discussed increasing Russian-Emirati cooperation in trade, economic and investment spheres, the situation in the energy sector, and current topics on the international and regional agenda. In addition, Putin and Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan then signed a declaration on strategic partnership between Russia and the UAE, and after the end of the official program, the Russian head of state showed the Crown Prince a new limousine of domestic production "Aurus".
Since 1995, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has visited Russia 11 times.
In 2019, the Russian president paid a state visit to the UAE, which resulted in the signing of a package of documents on the development of bilateral cooperation. The parties then exchanged gifts, with the UAE Crown Prince receiving a white gyrfalcon from Putin.
The Russian president last spoke by phone with Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in May. The Russian leader personally expressed his condolences on the death of the previous UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and congratulated Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on his election as president of the state and taking over as ruler of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. The Kremlin reported at the time that the two sides "noted with satisfaction the level of strategic partnership achieved between the two countries" and expressed "the mutual desire for further progressive development of friendly Russian-Emirati relations." The presidents also agreed to maintain contacts at various levels.
Russia-UAE relations
The United Arab Emirates did not impose sanctions against Russia after the start of Russia's military operation in Ukraine. In a telephone conversation with Putin on March 1, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan acknowledged Russia's right to ensure national security.
As Mikhail Bogdanov, Russian Presidential Special Representative for the Middle East and Africa and Deputy Foreign Minister, recently stated, Russian-Emirati bilateral relations are not experiencing any problems at the moment. He assured that in the current difficult situation Moscow appreciates the position of the Emirati friends, the relations between the two countries are mutually beneficial and mutually respectful. Bogdanov drew attention to the fact that the leaders of Russia and the UAE are in constant contact. According to his assessment, there appears to be an objectively very good prospect for relations between Russia and the UAE.
The meeting between Putin and Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan will take place a week after the decision of the participants of OPEC+ agreement to reduce oil production from November by 2 million barrels per day. Since then, US Democratic congressmen have introduced a bill obliging the US administration to withdraw US troops and weapons systems from the UAE and Saudi Arabia because of their decision to cut oil production. The bill also provides for the redeployment of US military equipment and defense systems to other regions of the Middle East in order to "ensure the safety of US servicemen in other countries." It was noted that the initiative was developed due to the fact that Abu Dhabi and Riyadh supported the earlier OPEC+ decision to reduce oil production.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Federation Council
Based on materials from TASS