Putin to visit Saudi Arabia and UAE on Wednesday
President Vladimir Putin of Russia will make a rare trip to the Middle East on Wednesday, the Kremlin announced, saying he would discuss bilateral relations, oil and international affairs in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The trip is part of a flurry of diplomatic meetings the Russia leader will conduct this week; on Thursday in Moscow, Mr. Putin will host President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran, the leader of another key player in the region.
Mr. Putin, who has not traveled beyond China, Iran and the former Soviet states since he launched the fullscale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, will visit both the UAE and Saudi Arabia in one day, Dmitry Peskov, his spokesperson, told journalists during a briefing Tuesday.
The meetings, announced unexpectedly, come as Ukraine tries to shore up Western aid for its war effort, amid signs of eroding support in the United States.
Mr. Putin’s trip will also come against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war, a conflict that has played into his geopolitical aims by distracting Western leaders from the war in Ukraine and by giving him a new opportunity to appeal to the global public, given the widespread sympathy in many nations for the Palestinian cause.
Though he has called Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack a terrorist act, Mr. Putin has likened his war in Ukraine to the Palestinian resistance, claiming that both represent struggles against the dominance of Western elites.
Mr. Peskov said Mr. Putin would discuss the war
between Israel and Hamas and also possible joint actions to coordinate global oil production to ensure price stability.
Calling the Russian leader’s diplomatic carousel this week “a concentrated shot,” Yuri Ushakov, Mr. Putin’s foreign policy aide, said that Russia’s war in Ukraine would be on the agenda, too.
“It is inevitable,” said Mr. Ushakov, according to Interfax, a Russian news agency. “It would be important for our colleagues to listen to Vladimir Putin’s assessments of how the situation is developing.”
Saudi Arabia has attempted to act as a mediator in the war, inviting some 40 countries for a peace conference in August and helping to conduct a successful prisoner exchange last year that included American and British citizens, with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman mediating the release.
Now, there is renewed speculation in Russia about possible peace talks, amid questions over the durability of Western support for Ukraine and as Ukrainian officials acknowledge that this year’s counteroffensive failed to achieve a significant breakthrough.
Citing an unnamed, highranking Russian source, Izvestia, a pro-Kremlin daily, reported Tuesday that Russia would not oppose conducting talks with Ukraine in a European country, such as Hungary. In an interview with RBC, a Russian business daily, Grigory Yavlinsky, a longtime Russian politician who met with Mr. Putin in October, said he had offered to become an intermediary in such talks.
Mr. Zelenskyy, who has vowed that Ukraine will keep fighting to liberate its territory, told The Associated Press in an interview last week that he did not yet feel pressure from allies to negotiate with Russia, though “some voices are always heard.”
Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Mr. Zelenskyy, dismissed the latest suggestions that Russia would be willing to negotiate as nothing more than an attempt to get an “operational pause” to “prepare the next phases of aggression.”
“Russia by the word ‘negotiations’ means only an ultimatum, capitulation and guarantees for Russia that it will not be prosecuted for war crimes and can resume the war at any time,” he said in a statement.
There was no change in Ukraine’s position, he wrote.
Shot, a Russian Telegram channel that first reported on Mr. Putin’s travel plans Monday, said the president would visit the UAE first and then go to Saudi Arabia to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed.
On Monday, Mr. Ushakov told Shot that the Kremlin considered the talks with Crown Prince Mohammed “very important.”