On December 6, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited two Arab states of the Persian Gulf: the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. According to TRT Haber, the Russian leader held talks with the President of the UAE, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud.

Yuri Ushakov, assistant to the resident of Russia for international affairs, called the short-term nature of the visit "bli ts -tour". No major deals have been signed or new rollout initiatives announced. At the same time, Ushakov noted that the essence of the trip is "a signal for the international community".

At the end of the visit, the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov noted that the conversation was mainly about commercial cooperation and "investment cooperation will continue."

A visit to the UAE

During the talks with Putin, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan emphasized cooperation in the field of energy and technology. "For us, the priority areas of cooperation development are innovation, energy, infrastructure and modern technologies, " he said.

And Putin paid special attention to the record trade turnover between Russia and the UAE. " Last year, the volume of trade increased by 67.7 percent. This year, I think it will be even more. The same applies to investment activities, " he said in a meeting with the UAE president.

In addition, Putin pointed out that tourism exchange is developing. "Last year, nearly one million - more than 900,000 tourists from Russia visited B AA , " he said. The Russian leader also noted the opening of a Russian school in the UAE and thanked the UAE president for allowing the construction of an Orthodox church in the country.

The Russian president also invited Mohammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan to the BRICS summit to be held in Kazan next year.

At the same time, the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, Alexander Novak, pointed to several directions of cooperation, among which he highlighted the energy sector. "We are working on joint projects on the certification of equipment and the use of Russian equipment in projects in the UAE, and trade in oil and oil products is carried out on a mutually beneficial basis," he said.

In addition, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov pointed to the prospect of concluding negotiations on signing a free trade agreement between EOII and the UAE in the near future.

"In the near future, we expect the conclusion of negotiations on signing a trade agreement between EOII and the Emirates, " Manturov told reporters . He also mentioned the joint projects in the Kizad industrial zone and the entry of the expensive Russian car " Aurus " into the Emirates market.

Visit to Saudi Arabia

Among the topics raised in the meeting between Putin and Bin Salman Al Saud, oil was the main issue. Peskov noted that both sides understand that they are responsible for the stable state of the energy market. Therefore, cooperation within the framework of OPEC+ was at the center of negotiations.

The crown prince of Saudi Arabia, for his part, focused on the issue of security as a promising area of cooperation with Russia. "Thanks to political cooperation, we were able to have a positive impact on a number of processes taking place in the Middle East, which made it possible to strengthen regional security," he said.

The President of Russia invited the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia to visit Moscow. The crown prince agreed to this proposal . However, the details or dates of the return visit have not yet been announced .

Finally , Putin proposed the creation of a joint Russian-Saudi company in the field of fertilizers. The Arab country was not chosen for this project by chance: Saudi Arabia is a major producer and exporter of fertilizers, especially phosphorus and nitrogen. In 2022, the kingdom announced plans to capture a quarter of the world market for phosphate fertilizer exports.

Putin's trips abroad

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited a country that does not share a border with Russia for the first time since he was wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague on March 17 of this year.

Putin made his first foreign visit to Kyrgyzstan after the warrant was issued in October. Then he visited China in October and Kazakhstan in November. It also became the territories of Ukraine controlled by Moscow.

After Putin's visit to the Arab countries, he is scheduled to meet with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Moscow on December 7.

For information, the UAE and Saudi Arabia are not among the countries that have ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, while the UAE signed the treaty, but did not ratify it, Kommersant writes.

Vladimir Putin went to the UAE in the IL-96 presidential plane, surrounded by Su-35S fighter jets, divided into two groups. These warplanes appear to be equipped with R-73 and R-77 missiles capable of hitting airborne targets.