Putin to visit Saudi Arabia, UAE on Wednesday, Kremlin confirms

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday, the Kremlin has announced. His visit comes amid Russia’s attempt to forge allies as it finds itself isolated amid Moscow’s war on Ukraine. “President Putin will go on a working visit to the UAE and Saudi Arabia tomorrow,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Tuesday. It is important to note that Putin limited his international trips since Russia deployed troops in Ukraine following which the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an international arrest warrant for the Russian president on the war crime accusation of unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children. The Kremlin spokesperson said that Putin would discuss bilateral relations, the conflict between Israel and Hamas, and international politics. It is, however, not clear whether Putin will attend the COP28 Summit currently being hosted by the UAE. Putin has missed several high-level gatherings abroad since Moscow launched large-scale hostilities in Ukraine in February 2022. Putin skipped the BRICS summit in South Africa in August to avoid causing a “political show”. He also missed the in-person flagship G20 summit in September – though he attended a virtual G20 meeting in November. Putin to meet Iran’s Raisi Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will, on the other hand, visit Russia on Thursday to hold bilateral meetings with Putin. “I can confirm. There will be Russian-Iranian negotiations on December 7,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday when asked about media reports of Raisi’s impending visit. Putin had last visited Iran in July last year while Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov travelled to Tehran in October for talks with regional counterparts. With inputs from AFP