Russian president Vladimir Putin visited the United Arab Emirates in the middle of the United Nations COP28 climate conference, but not for purposes of attending it, and is currently in Saudi Arabia.
He received a warm welcome today on his “first trip to the Middle East since he invaded Ukraine,” and according to Bloomberg, “energy was top” on his list of reasons.
Reuters says that his trip “comes after the Opec+ group of oil producers, which includes all three countries, agreed on last Thursday to voluntary output cuts totaling about 2.2 million barrels a day.”
This figured included “an extension of existing Saudi and Russian voluntary cuts of 1.3 million bpd.”
In Saudi Arabia, Putin engaged in negotiations with Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS.
According to Reuters:
Apart from cooperation in OPEC+, Putin is keen to cultivate the Gulf states as part of his drive to build global alliances with non-Western countries in order to demonstrate what he says is the failure of the United States and its allies to isolate Russia with sanctions over the war in Ukraine.
The arrest warrant issued for Putin by the International Criminal Court (ICC) alleging war crimes in the Ukrainian War does not hold force in either UAE or Saudi Arabia. Neither of those countries is a member state of the ICC.
