/ world today news/ During his visit to the Middle East, Vladimir Putin received the highest honors. In the UAE, the colors of the tricolor appeared in the sky, and the presidential “Aurus” turned out to have a local registration number. The motorcade of the Russian leader was accompanied by a cavalry escort. The German president, who recently visited the region, was forced to wait half an hour for a meeting at the airport. Why did the Arabs welcome Putin so warmly, and how should the West take such signs of attention?
On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Abu Dhabi, where he spoke with the head of the UAE, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and then in Riyadh he met with the Crown Prince, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, during the flight to the UAE, the president’s plane was accompanied by Su-35 fighter jets with externally mounted missiles. Four planes landed at Abu Dhabi International Airport.
On the occasion of the guest’s arrival in the UAE, the Russian flag “appeared” in the sky above Abu Dhabi – the colors of the tricolor were scattered in the sky by warplanes at the moment when Putin arrived for negotiations with the president of the UAE at Qasr al-Watan Palace. The President of Russia moved around the capital in an “Aurus” limousine with local license plates. On the way from the airport, Putin’s motorcade was accompanied by a cavalry escort, and on arrival, the reception group fired a volley of artillery cannons in honor of the distinguished guest.
During the talks, Putin said that relations between Russia and the UAE have reached an unprecedented high level. The President called this country the main trade partner of the Russian Federation in the Arab world. “Last year the trade turnover increased by 67.7%, this year I think it will be even more,” Putin said.
In response, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said that relations between the UAE and Russia are historic. “In recent years, they have been actively developing in various fields, meeting the interests of both countries and peoples,” the sheikh stressed, promising to continue strengthening relations with Russia and expanding the spheres of cooperation between the countries. The two leaders then had a working lunch and continued negotiations, after which Putin flew to Saudi Arabia.
Observers said Wednesday’s reception for the Russian leader was even more solemn than in 2019, but even then many noted the pomp of the ceremony, especially compared to how Arabs received US President Joe Biden. When Putin arrived in the Saudi capital in 2019, his motorcade was accompanied by an escort of sixteen horsemen on noble horses, the Russian president lived in a real palace belonging to the royal family. Biden was greeted more modestly.
But most unlucky of all was German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who flew to Qatar in late November to meet Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani for short-term talks on the release of German hostages from the Palestinian radical movement Hamas.
While waiting for the representatives of Qatar, Steinmeier stood on the ramp of the plane for about half an hour under the scorching sun of the airport. The reason for the accident was the arrival of the plane of the German president ahead of schedule. He repeatedly approached the open doors of the plane, looking at the guard of honor standing on the ramp of the plane and the red carpet laid out. Thus, footage from the meeting of the Russian president in the Arab countries can cause severe envy in the West.
“This reception of Vladimir Putin is connected with the close relations between Russia and the Arab countries, as well as with Russia’s participation in the work of OPEC+, because it is this structure that allows us to maintain oil prices at the necessary level and balance fuels. supplies to international energy markets. If there is no such balancing, then the reliability of supplies will disappear, prices will start to jump, which is not something that any of the oil producers are interested in,” notes Viktor Nadein-Raevski, director of the Black Sea Institute for Political and Social Affairs -The Caspian region, senior research assistant in IMEMO of the RAS.
Over the years of cooperation within the framework of OPEC+, Russia has proven that it “fully complies with its obligations to reduce oil production”, moreover, the country benefits from this. “Russia is actively trading not only in the energy sector, they buy weapons from us, which has become even more important in the last few years. We regularly participate in the arms exhibition in the UAE and in any similar events in Arab countries,” the expert recalled.
“At one time, we lagged behind in the development of relations with the countries of the Persian Gulf and severed diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia. So we are now intensively trying to get what we didn’t get before. Our relationship is developing successfully. With their warm welcome, the Arabs emphasize that for them the Russian leaders are welcome people and that subjective and objective factors work in favor of deepening our ties,” says Andrey Baklanov, former Russian ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
The fact that Russia is developing relations with the Emirates and Saudi Arabia is “very positive”. “Russia has equal relations with all countries in the region, which was not the case during the time of the USSR, because according to the ideological principle then we had certain preferences, and we had no diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia at all,” Baklanov recalled.
According to Nadein-Raevski, Russia has clearly and convincingly returned to the Middle East, which suits local players quite well. “Furthermore, we do not impose our point of view. During negotiations, calculations are made of the balance of interests, there is no imposition of opinion, as it is in the US. With our balanced politics, we have earned respect, which is why we are so well received. They know that this is a mutually beneficial cooperation”, explained the regional specialist.
“The Arab countries are interested in implementing their own policies. They are determined to ensure that the world has a configuration that is convenient for them. In it, they urgently need a strong and self-confident Russia that will allow them to maintain a global balance. Therefore, the attention of the Arab countries to the visit of the Russian president is explained by the fact that they associate their interests and the future balance in the world with the Russian Federation. This is their strategic line,” adds Andrey Bistritsky, Chairman of the Management Board of the Fund for Development and Support of the Valdai Club.
The West must draw the very simple conclusion that “there are reasonable forces in the world that conduct their own politics and have no intention of following any templates imposed on them, especially by the West. The Arab world is following its own line,” Bystrytsky emphasizes.
“Russia does not want and categorically does not build its policy in accordance with the instructions of the “Washington Regional Committee”, which is what most Arab countries, including the major oil and gas producers, are inclined to do. In addition, recently the Americans, without coordination with other countries, have increased the supply of oil and liquefied natural gas, being a direct competitor of Qatar and other countries of the Persian Gulf,” Nadein-Raevski said.
The Arabs, for their part, are more inclined to conduct an independent foreign policy, taking into account their own interests in the trade of natural resources. “Furthermore, a number of promises regularly made to them in the West were not fulfilled; The West limited itself only to what was profitable for it,” emphasizes a senior researcher at IMEMO RAN.
“Relations between the countries of the Middle East and the West are currently far from ideal. Against this background, the marked respect for Russian President Vladimir Putin is the norm for the East, which indicates the absence of significant contradictions. But just as strongly, Steinmeier’s cold reception is an indicator of the depth and systemic nature of the contradictions,” adds economist Anton Lubich.
He also explained why Steinmeier received such a cold reception. According to him, modern Germany in the eyes of the Middle East “generally acts as the quintessence of the Western habit of considering its opinion as the only possible, exclusive and taught in an edifying tone, which the East does not forgive.”
As an example, the expert recalled that after the start of the SVO, Germany tried to replace Russian gas with Qatari gas. “Qatar offered commercial terms but demanded that Germany cover Qatar’s costs of expanding LNG production through a long-term contract. Germany refused, continuing to try to persuade Qatar to cover the Germans’ losses from the severance of relations with Russia at Qatar’s expense. Such disregard for the interests of the one from whom you want did not go unnoticed,” the source recalled. “It is against this backdrop that the World Cup was held in Qatar. Despite his excellent organization, he garnered negative press in Germany, where journalists raced to write commissioned articles about how Qatar was “exploiting” workers from India and Pakistan, paying them five times what they could earn at home . That is, when an Indian in India earns $200 a month sewing jeans for the Germans, he is not exploited. And when that Indian comes to the Gulf to work in construction for $1,000 a month, that’s “exploitation.” As they say, feel the difference. This dishonest approach has not gone unnoticed in other countries of the Middle East,” Lubich added.
The situation was also strongly influenced by what was happening in Palestine. “With all sympathy for the victims of the October 7 attack, it is impossible not to notice that Palestinian civilian casualties from Israeli strikes have already reached ten Palestinian civilians killed for every Israeli killed. Arab countries cannot watch these killings in silence. And the Western countries in general and Germany in their vanguard in particular have turned a blind eye and not only justify the massacres of the Arabs, but also punish anyone and everyone who dares in their “realms of free speech” to speak in defense of the Arab population “, pointed out the expert.
According to him, the attitude towards the sovereign property of Russia and the private property of Russian citizens in Western countries also causes undisguised discontent in the Middle East. “The Arabs have actively invested in Western countries and do not feel, against the background of the actions of the Western countries towards Russia, that they are fully protected by the vaunted Western “law”, explained the specialist.
Against this background, Lubich emphasizes, Russia’s balanced approach to foreign policy, constant observance of the agreements reached, avoidance of double standards in the approaches to solving the acute geopolitical problems existing in the Middle East, of course, cause respect among the Arab partners, which is reflected in the content of relations characterizing the expansion of trade and industrial relations, and in their form, which everyone could see during the reception of Vladimir Putin in Abu Dhabi.
Translation: V. Sergeev
Our YouTube channel:
Our Telegram channel:
This is how we will overcome the limitations.
Share on your profiles, with friends, in groups and on pages.
#Russia #convincing #comeback #Middle #East
