Mohammed bin Zayed meets Putin in Russia
United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Momahed bin Zayed will pay an official visit to Russia on Tuesday to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, the official Emirati news agency WAM reported.
During the visit to "friendly Russia", Bin Zayed will discuss with Putin "friendly relations and other international and regional issues and developments of common interest", WAM said, without providing further details.
This is Bin Zayed's first trip to Moscow since he took over the Emirati presidency after the death of his half-brother Khalifa in May.
The Emirates and Russia are part of the OPEC+ alliance, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, which last week decided to cut output by 2 million barrels per day (mbd), the biggest oil supply cut since May 2020, and equivalent to 2% of global crude supply.
The move by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its ten external allies was sharply criticised by the United States and other Western nations, who have been calling on OPEC+ for months to open the taps to lower fuel and energy prices to curb runaway inflation in their economies.
The UAE, among other countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other Arab countries, has been reluctant to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as well as to expel Russia from OPEC+ on the grounds that the situation "should not be politicised".
