Russian President Vladimir Putin shook hands with President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed al-Nahyan at a meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia on October 11, 2022.
Pavel Bednyakov |Satellite | By Reuters
Dubai, United Arab Emirates – United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan traveled to Russia on Thursday to visit the country for the second time in less than a year to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a sign of the growing relationship between the two states.
According to UAE media service WAM, the trip focused on the “strategic partnership” between the two countries and introduced “ways to enhance cooperation, especially in areas where economy, trade, investment, energy and other services serve common development, in addition to the common regional and international interests.”
The UAE is a long-time close ally of the United States and a major military and intelligence partner. This is also Russia’s most important economic partner in the Middle East – a surge in trade between the two in recent years, especially since the beginning of the Russian war against Ukraine. Russia – U.S. trade grew 68% year-on-year Russia’s Ministry of Trade said in February that it will reach $9 billion in 2022.
According to Russian state media tass, UAE leaders now said in talks with Putin, “The trade turnover rate between Russia and the UAE is $11.5 billion.”
Bin Zayed told his Russian counterparts: “We hope this number will double at the bilateral level and in the Eurasian countries over the next five years, adding that the relationship between the two countries “develops at an accelerated pace.”
Russia and the UAE signed a strategic partnership in 2018, and since then, many visits have been made between their leaders.
Instead of officially taking a side in the Russian-Ukrainian war, Abu Dhabi called for peace and battle to end. Instead, it provides a safe haven for Russian oligarchs and expats to escape sanctions and enforce recruitment. About 4,000 Russian businesses operate in the UAE According to the reportFDI between the two has increased steadily.
This pool photo by Russian state agency shows Russian President Vladimir Putin and United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan attended the welcome ceremony ahead of the talks held in Abu Dhabi on December 6, 2023.
Sergei Savostyanov | AFP | Getty Images
The UAE visits to the UAE value a strategic partnership with the Russians and will continue to deepen its ties with Russia,” said Anna Borshchevskaya, a senior researcher at the Washington Institute, focused on Russian policy toward the Middle East.
“As before, the UAE wants to continue to maintain a diverse foreign policy between Russia, the United States and China rather than just choosing one.”
The visit of UAE leaders is also coming, and the White House announces an upcoming meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Putin to discuss efforts to ceasefire in Ukraine and at Trump announces punitive tariffs in India To import Russian oil, U.S. leaders say it is “to fuel the war machine.”
For Russia, the ongoing relationship with the UAE is a victory, and “apparently, they are not as isolated as the West wants them to be diplomatically and economically.”
“The UAE is also a key part of Russia’s efforts to bypass Western sanctions. For (UAE leaders) politically, it was a demonstration that while he relied on the U.S. military to ensure security, he was referring to his independence from Washington.”
UAE ‘War to Help Russia’
In the past, the United States has been frustrated by the UAE’s opening of Russian imports.
In 2023, the Biden administration called the UAE a “key country” to circumvent sanctions and export controls on Russia. According to the UAE Department of Treasury, companies in the UAE will ship more than $5 million in exports from the U.S. to Russia in the second half of 2022, including semiconductors that can power weapons on the Ukrainian battlefield.
“The UAE helps promote trade for dual purpose. This is an important transit hub for dual use commodities, which means commodities that can have both civilian and military uses, so this trade helps fuel Russia’s war against Ukraine,” Borshchevskaya said.
The UAE’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
The Russian Federation covered the city with a large amount of smoke after a massive drone and missile attack on the capital in Kyiv, Ukraine on July 4, 2025.
libkos | Getty Images News | Getty Images
So far, Washington has not really punished the Middle East. Trump has not given treatment to India by the UAE or other Gulf trading partners.
Part of this is due to Abu Dhabi’s role as a mediator between Russia and the Western powers. It facilitates communication between opponents and prisoner transactions between Ukraine and Russia. Since the outbreak of the war in February 2022 UAE says UAE mediation work 4,181 prisoners returned home.
The UAE has also been helped by its fierce business ties with the United States: Abu Dhabi is a rapidly growing hub, and investors are a hub The largest AI and technology company in the United States. Trump is highly concerned Visit the Bay Area in May Seeing many major deals signed with the UAE across sectors, while Abu Dhabi was in March Committed to a 10-year, $1.4 trillion investment framework In the United States
U.S. President Donald Trump is located in a guestbook next to the United Arab Emirates United United Arab Emirates on May 15, 2025, Qasr Al Watan of Qasr Al Watan of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Brian Snyder | Reuters
The UAE-Russia friendship “is a tension with the United States, but at this stage, especially in the Trump administration,” said Hussein Ibish, a senior resident scholar at the Institute of Arab Gulf Mexico Countries in Washington.
“However, since Trump’s ceasefire deadline for the Ukraine war is responsible for starting… the UAE and Russia will coordinate any potential reaction to such secondary sanctions.”
Whether Trump decides to put pressure on Abu Dhabi is the leader of the UAE and the wider Gulf region may be closely watched. But small oil-rich chiefs will remain independent in their foreign policy decisions, said Michael Rubin, a Pentagon official and resident scholar at the American College of Enterprise.
“The UAE is no longer interested in participating in large leagues or stress sports; it will be based on narrow and naked calculations of its own interests and allows others to waste their time and energy on sanctions, coercion and strong competition for power,” Rubin told CNBC.
“MBZ will do the right thing for the UAE without putting all the eggs in the basket of the United States, China or Russia.”
