Russian President, Vladimir Putin, thanked United Arab Emirates (UAE) President, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, for his help in resolving humanitarian issues arising from the conflict in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is grateful to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for its assistance in addressing humanitarian issues, including the exchange of detainees, during the events in Ukraine.
“I would like to thank you for your efforts to address humanitarian issues during the events in Ukraine, the events related to the exchange of detainees and the resolution of a number of other humanitarian issues of this kind,” Putin told UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in his opening remarks at the talks on Friday.
Putin stressed that those efforts “matter to specific people, and this is always the most important thing.”
“Thank you very much for that,” the Russian leader said.
At the meeting Putin suggested “discussing the situation in the region.”.
The UAE president tweeted, saying:Today I met with President Putin in St. Petersburg to discuss bilateral relations between the UAE & Russia, & the situation in Ukraine. The UAE continues to support all efforts aimed at reaching a political solution through dialogue & diplomacy – towards global peace & stability.
“This polarization has to be broken,” Anwar Gargash, the diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, said.
“[Sheikh Mohamed] meets a lot of Western leaders, it is also important for him to hear from President Putin to be able also to support the international community’s collective effort, in order to go beyond the current polarization,” Gargash said.
Gargash said that rather than take a “conventional view of staying away from a crisis that’s engulfing everybody… we do really have to think of a positive difference.”
In December, the UAE mediated the release of American basketball player Brittney Griner in exchange for Russian arms dealer Victor Bout.
A senior UAE official told CNN in December that Sheikh Mohamed’s meeting with Putin in October last year was part of the reason Griner was released.
“We are trying to hear all sides,” said Gargash. He described the UAE president’s visit to Russia as part of that policy. A “positive calculated risk” to ensure that channels remain open with Putin.
In their televised meeting, Putin thanked Sheikh Mohamed for his efforts to “resolve humanitarian issues in the course of events in Ukraine related to the exchange of detainees.”
The UAE’s state-run WAM news agency said Sheikh Mohamed spoke to Putin about accelerating efforts to “mitigate the humanitarian repercussions of the crisis and supporting prisoner-exchange initiatives on both sides.”The UAE hosts 5,000 US troops in Al Dhafra air base outside its capital Abu Dhabi. Over the past three years it has developed close ties with Israel, becoming one of its closest allies in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, its bilateral trade with Russia increased by 68% to $9 billion in 2022, mostly Russian exports to the UAE. That still pales in comparison to exchange with its biggest trade partner, China, which reached $72 billion in non-oil trade alone, or even the US, which amounted to $23 billion in 2021.
The UAE also continues an open line of communication with Iran, is expanding business ties with China and has mended strained relations with Turkey.
But the UAE’s policy towards Russia has invited warnings from the US that individuals and institutions that allow Russia to evade sanctions risk losing access to G7 markets.
The UAE is this year’s “guest of honor” country at SPIEF, represented at the four-day event by the ruler of one of the seven Emirates that make up the Arab federation along with the UAE’s minister for economy Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri.
