Putin, flanked by Russian fighters, jets into the Middle East to meet Saudi’s MbS

On Wednesday, Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, and four Russian fighter planes left for a rare overseas trip. During this trip, he will meet with Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, to talk about oil, Gaza, and Ukraine.

The meeting between Vladimir Putin and the prince known as MbS took place after oil prices decreased despite a promise made by OPEC+, which is a coalition consisting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies led by Russia, to reduce petroleum production further.

The Sukhoi-35S fighter planes were seen flying alongside the Ilyushin-96 aircraft that the Kremlin leader was traveling from Russia to the United Arab Emirates. The defense ministry showed the fighter jets flying alongside the Kremlin boss’s plane.

President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates warmly greeted his “dear friend” in Abu Dhabi. In addition, United Arab Emirates planes greeted the Kremlin head with a fly-past that trailed the colors of the Russian flag.

“Our relations, largely due to your position, have reached an unprecedentedly high level,” Vladimir Putin told him. “The UAE is Russia’s main trading partner in the Arab world.”

The delegation from Russia is comprised of high-ranking authorities in the fields of oil, economy, international affairs, space, and nuclear energy.

Putin stated that Russia and the United Arab Emirates worked together as members of OPEC+, producing more than forty percent of the world’s oil. He also stated that they will address the situation between Israel and Hamas as well as Ukraine.

Putin is scheduled to fly to Saudi Arabia for his first face-to-face encounter with MbS since October 2019, following his upcoming trip to the United Arab Emirates. The last time he traveled to the area was in July 2022, when he traveled to Iran to meet with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran.

Since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin has taken very few trips outside of Russia. It was not immediately obvious what Putin intended to discuss with the country’s crown prince, who exports the most crude oil globally, especially regarding energy or geopolitics.

The journey to speak with MbS looked hurried, especially considering it occurred just a few days after a significant OPEC+ meeting was postponed. Before the trip, Reuters had received information from a source that MbS intended to travel to Moscow.

This coming Thursday, Vladimir Putin, who has not been to the area since the middle of 2022, is scheduled to meet with his Iranian counterpart, Ebrahim Raisi, in Moscow.

In addition to MBS
The Kremlin stated that in addition to oil, Putin and MbS will address the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the situation in Syria and Yemen, and topics such as keeping peace in the Gulf. An adviser stated that Ukraine would also be covered at their meeting.

Both Putin and MbS have had tight connections for a long time, even though the West has shunned them at various times. Together, they control one-fifth of the oil that is pumped each day.

In 2018, barely two months after the assassination of writer Jamal Khashoggi in a Saudi consulate, Vladimir Putin and Mohammed bin Salman smiled and gave each other high-fives while shaking hands during the G20 summit.

To reassert Saudi Arabia as a regional power with less respect to the United States, which provides Riyadh with the majority of its armaments and is the world’s leading oil producer, MbS, who is 38 years old, has been working toward this goal.

Putin has stated that Russia is involved in an existential fight with the West. He has courted friends across the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Asia in response to Western attempts to isolate Moscow. Putin, who ordered soldiers into Ukraine in February 2022, claimed that Russia was engaged in this battle.

Both MbS and Putin, who is 71 years old, desire and require high oil prices, which is the fuel that keeps their economy beating. For both parties, the question that has to be answered is how much of the weight each should take on to maintain high pricing and how to verify the load.

Because of differences in production levels, the meeting that OPEC+ was scheduled to hold last month was postponed by several days. The oil minister of Saudi Arabia stated that, in addition, OPEC+ was looking for more guarantees from Moscow that it would fulfill its commitment to decrease gasoline exports.

In March of 2020, when markets were already being rattled by the beginning of the COVID epidemic, relations between Saudi Arabia and Russia in OPEC+ have been tense. Additionally, a pact on cuts came dangerously close to falling apart.

However, within a few weeks, the two were able to mend their relationship, and OPEC+ reached an agreement to reduce their supply by about ten percent of market demand.

Since the confrontation between Israel and Hamas broke out in October, Putin has portrayed the conflict as a failure of U.S. strategy in the Middle East. He has also developed relationships with Arab allies and Iran, in addition to expanding his relationship with the militant Palestinian group.