Putin prepares to meet 'old friend' Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed

PRINT ONLY COPY - JOHN DENNEHY IN MOSCOW

When Vladimir Putin arrives in the UAE on Tuesday, he will be among old friends.

This is no mere trade mission but also a chance for the Russian president to catch up with Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.

Leonid Slutsky, head of the Russian parliament committee on internal affairs, said Mr Putin considered Sheikh Mohamed as one of the key figures in the Arab world and a good friend.

Preparations for the visit are under way across the country with UAE and Russian flags lining Abu Dhabi's Corniche. It is also a big deal in Russia. Mr Slutsky said the Russian president had planned to visit the UAE many times since his first visit in 2007 but was always thwarted by an overloaded schedule.

“I’m surprised it hasn’t happened sooner,” Mr Slutsky told The National at the Duma headquarters in Moscow. “It has been planned and postponed many times. But the Russian president’s diary is overloaded.

“Vladimir Putin and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed talk all the time on the phone,” said Mr Slutsky.

The National was a part of a media delegation that visited Moscow last week to see first-hand how Russia views the UAE partnership.

The figures speak for themselves. Trade between the UAE and Russia reached Dh12.5bn in 2018, while about 3,000 Russian companies are registered in the UAE. This relationship is not a transactional one, however, and deep financial links mirror the personal relationship between both leaders.

Kirill Dmitriev, chief executive of the powerful Russian Direct Investment Fund, said the UAE helped the Russian economy recover following the 2014 global collapse in oil prices. Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala and the RDIF teamed up in 2013 to create a $7 billion (Dh25bn) fund with $2bn already invested. Both are now committed to 45 projects across Russia in projects such as healthcare, technology, oil, artificial intelligence, Mixed Martial Arts, airports, video streaming and online delivery platforms.

“Mubadala invested at a critical time for the Russian economy but they got very good returns,” said Mr Dmitriev. “We are very happy with our partnership.”

Expanding the fund will take centre stage during the visit of Mr Putin on Tuesday. During the trip, at least 15 deals in energy, nuclear power and the environment are expected to be signed. Russia and the UAE are expected to deepen ties across space, technology and defence, in particular.

If there is one area that underlines the huge extent of the UAE and Russia’s economic cooperation it lies in UFC’s mixed martial arts. The sport is hugely popular in Russia and Abu Dhabi’s staging of a UFC fight in September attracted thousands of people.

So it was no surprise that the UAE and Russia in 2018 set aside Dh3.67bn to boost UFC in Russia and former Soviet states through promoting merchandise, enhancing media rights and increasing sponsorship.

Tourism is also crucial. About a million Russians visit the UAE every year, buoyed by the introduction of visa-free travel earlier this year. And this is where MMA might also come in. September’s fight in Abu Dhabi between Russia’s Khabib Nurmagomedov and American Dustin Poirier did not go unnoticed in Moscow. “The event was a huge hit with Khabib’s Russian fans,” said Mr Dmitriev.

Both countries also share values in promoting tolerance, while eschewing extremism.

The UAE is home to people of many faiths with 2019 marked as the Year of Tolerance. In Moscow too, people of all religions are encouraged to visit the Cathedral Mosque. Mr Putin opened the renovated place of worship in 2015 and urged leaders to do more to prevent extremism.

“We see what’s happening in the Middle East where terrorists … discredit the great world religion, discredit Islam … Their ideology is built on lies,” he said.

Tuesday’s visit, then, is the culmination of decades of work by diplomats, businessmen and government officials set against the backdrop of the Cold War, twilight of the Communist state and emergence of a modern Russia allied with the UAE.