Vladimir Putin to visit UAE and Saudi Arabia this week

Vladimir Putin to visit UAE and Saudi Arabia this week

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Vladimir Putin is set to visit both Saudi Arabia and the UAE on Wednesday, the Kremlin told reporters, the first time he has travelled to the region since Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine.

“President Putin’s working visits to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia will take place tomorrow and everything will happen within one day,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.

The parties will discuss bilateral relations and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, he added.

Saudi Arabia is Russia’s key partner in Opec+, while the UAE has become the main international hub for Russian businesses and a significant route for circumventing western sanctions.

Putin enjoys close relations with both the oil-exporting Gulf states, which have remained neutral in the Ukraine conflict. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are not signatories to the statue that governs the International Criminal Court, which has indicted the Russian president for alleged war crimes.

Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, ruler of the UAE, have developed personal relationships with Putin and touted themselves as interlocutors between Russia and the west.

There has also been talk that Putin, who has been either