UAE president to meet Putin in Russia, a week after OPEC+’s deep output cuts

The president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, will head to Russia on Tuesday to meet his counterpart Vladimir Putin.

According to UAE state media WAM, both leaders will be discussing the countries’ “friendly relations,” alongside “regional and international issues and developments of common interest.”

The UAE ruler’s visit comes a week after OPEC+, an alliance of oil producers which includes Russia and the UAE, agreed to impose deep output cuts to shore up crude prices despite calls from the U.S. to pump more to bolster the global economy.

The Kremlin had on Sunday praised the organization’s decision to slash output. 

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that the move was a “balanced, thoughtful and planned work of the countries, which take a responsible position within OPEC,” Reuters reported.

The cut had strained relations between the oil cartel and the United States.

The White House said in a statement that President Joe Biden was “disappointed by the shortsighted decision by OPEC+ to cut production quotas while the global economy is dealing with the continued negative impact of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.” 

Following the announcement of the UAE leader’s visit, Dubai’s former finance chief said on Twitter that Mohamed was heading to Russia to “[defuse] a European war that exhausted the world.”