Vladimir Putin to visit Saudi Arabia and UAE in rare trip abroad
- Putin has rarely travelled abroad in recent years, and mostly to states of the former Soviet Union. His last trip beyond those countries was to China in October
- On Monday, Putin complained of deteriorating ties with the West as he swore in new ambassadors, including from countries such as Britain and Germany
Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia this week, Russian news outlet Shot reported on Monday, citing Putin’s aide Yury Ushakov.
The reported visit comes after the Opec+ group of oil producers, which includes all three countries, agreed last Thursday to voluntary output cuts totalling about 2.2 million barrels a day.
Markets reacted with scepticism to the deal because of doubts about whether the voluntary cuts would be fully implemented. Oil prices fell 2 per cent last week after the announcement, and declined further on Monday. Brent crude was down nearly 0.6 per cent at US$78.45.
The figure of 2.2 million bpd included an extension of existing Saudi and Russian voluntary cuts of 1.3 million bpd.
“I hope that these will be very useful negotiations, which we consider extremely important,” Ushakov said.
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Neither Saudi Arabia nor the UAE is a member of the court either, so Putin can travel to both countries without fear of being arrested under the ICC warrant.
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On Monday, Putin complained of deteriorating ties with Western countries as he accepted the credentials of several new ambassadors.
“The times are not easy,” Putin told the envoys.
Addressing the new ambassador of the UK, with whom ties have been especially frosty even before the Ukraine offensive, he said Moscow and London were able to overcome differences in the 20th century.
“In the post-war (WWII) period and until recently, our countries were able to build relations,” the Russian leader said.
“But the current state of things … is well known and we should hope that the situation – in the interest of our countries and nations – will change for the better.”
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Putin told the German ambassador that he regretted that Berlin was weaning itself off Russian energy.
“For over half a century we were able with Germany to develop a pragmatic business approach that was comfortable for both our countries and the whole European continent,” said Putin, who speaks German and who was posted to Dresden during his time with the KGB.
“Our country without fail supplied Germany with ecologically clean gas,” he said.
“As is well known, relations of Russia and Korea are unfortunately going through not the best period,” he said, adding that he was “ready” to improve them.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
