Video: Military fighter jets accompany Putin’s plane on his trip to meet Mohammed bin Salman

Four Russian fighter planes accompanied Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday during his trip to the Middle East, on a rare visit abroad, during which he discussed oil and the war in Gaza and Ukraine with the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman.

The meeting between Putin and Bin Salman comes after a decline in oil prices despite the pledge of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Russia, or the alliance known as OPEC+, to further reduce supplies.

Four Su-35S fighter jets surrounded Putin’s plane, and the Defense Ministry showed it flying alongside his Ilyushin-96 from Russia to the UAE.

The Emirati President, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, welcomed his “dear” friend in Abu Dhabi, and Emirati fighter jets also saluted him by drawing the colors of the Russian flag in the air with smoke.

“Our relations, thanks in large part to your position, have reached an unprecedented high level,” Putin told Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed. He added, “The UAE is Russia’s main trading partner in the Arab world.”

The Russian delegation includes senior officials in the fields of oil, economy, foreign affairs, space and nuclear energy.

Putin stated that Russia and the UAE are cooperating as members of OPEC+, an alliance whose member states produce more than 40 percent of the world’s oil, adding that they will discuss the conflict between Israel, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), and the issue of Ukraine.

Russian news agencies said that Putin arrived in Saudi Arabia after concluding his visit to the Emirates to hold his first face-to-face meeting with Bin Salman since October 2019.

Putin made his last visit to the region in July 2022, when he met Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Iran.

It is not yet clear whether Putin, who has rarely left Russia since the outbreak of the Ukraine war, intends to specifically raise issues about oil or geopolitical issues with Prince Bin Salman.

It seemed that his visit to meet the Saudi Crown Prince was accelerated, days after a major OPEC+ meeting was postponed.

A source had told Reuters that Prince Mohammed bin Salman had plans to visit Moscow.

Putin is scheduled to host his Iranian counterpart, Ebrahim Raisi, in Moscow, tomorrow, Thursday. Putin’s last visit to the region was in mid-2022.

Putin and Prince Mohammed bin Salman

The Kremlin stated that Putin and Mohammed bin Salman would discuss the war between Israel and Hamas, the situation in Syria and Yemen, and issues such as ensuring stability in the Gulf, as well as oil, while one of Putin’s aides said that the Ukraine issue would also be on the agenda of the discussions.

Putin and Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whose countries produce a fifth of the world’s oil production daily, have always enjoyed close relations despite sometimes being shunned by the West.

At the G20 summit in 2018, just two months after the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Turkey, Putin and Prince Mohammed bin Salman shook hands and exchanged smiles.

Prince Mohammed bin Salman (38 years old) seeks to confirm Saudi Arabia’s position as a regional power that is not largely subject to the United States, which supplies Riyadh with most of its weapons. The United States is the world’s first country in oil production.

Putin, who sent forces to Ukraine in February 2022, says that Russia is waging an existential battle with the West, and Moscow has courted allies in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia amid attempts by the West to isolate it.

Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Putin (71 years old) want, and even need, to raise oil prices, a lifeline for their economies, according to Reuters.

The question before them is how much of the burden should each bear to keep prices high? How will that burden be verified?

OPEC+ alliance

Last month, the OPEC+ alliance postponed its meeting for several days due to disagreements over production levels. The Saudi Energy Minister said that OPEC+ also wants more confirmation from Moscow that it will fulfill its pledge to reduce fuel exports.

Relations between Saudi Arabia and Russia within the framework of OPEC+ witnessed difficulties at times, and an agreement to reduce supplies was on the verge of collapse in March 2020, when the markets were already suffering due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

But the two countries succeeded in mending the rift in their relations within weeks, and OPEC+ agreed to record cuts amounting to about ten percent of global oil demand to support oil markets.

Since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas in October, Putin has said that the conflict results from the failure of American policy in the Middle East and has strengthened his relations with Arab allies and Iran, in addition to Hamas.