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Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday for oil talks, marking a rare trip abroad.
Putin is scheduled to meet with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan before traveling onwards to Saudi Arabia, where he will meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
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Putin will use the trip to boost his country’s agreements with key oil-producing states.
OPEC+, a cartel of petrostates which includes Russia, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia, recently said it would deepen voluntary oil output cuts in a bid to boost the oil market.
The Russian president’s visit to the UAE comes as the nation hosts COP28, a global U.N. conference geared at addressing human-caused climate change. Putin will not travel to the summit, which is being held in Dubai.
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Putin has made few international trips since the beginning of his country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago.
Earlier this year, the International Criminal Court (ICC) put a warrant out for the Russian president’s arrest, meaning that any nations that are signatories of the Rome Statute would be obligated to carry out an arrest if he landed in their territory.
Neither the UAE nor Saudi Arabia are party to the agreement, meaning Putin can travel to the region freely.