Putin** recently flew to the United Arab Emirates and will then go on a one-day working visit to Saudi Arabia, which is known as a "lightning" trip and took less than 24 hours to complete. In order to ensure Putin's safety, his special plane will be closely escorted by 4 Russian Su-35S fighter jets. Putin met with UAE Mohammed bin Salman and discussed cooperation between the two countries. He then traveled to Saudi Arabia for high-level talks with King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia.
There are two main reasons for the tight itinerary of this visit: First, Raisi will visit Russia on December 7, and Putin needs to complete his visits to the UAE and Saudi Arabia as soon as possible in order to return to Moscow for talks with Raisi. Second, at the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai, a large number of Western dignitaries gathered, and Putin did not want to stay too long to avoid triggering hype about the war in Ukraine.
Due to the war in Ukraine and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, as well as the restrictions of neighboring countries, Putin's special plane flight process is extremely complicated. To ensure safety, the Russian Air Force sent four Su-35S fighters armed with live-fire R-73 close-range combat air-to-air missiles and R-77 medium-range air-to-air missiles. In addition, in order to deal with the possible threat of man-portable anti-aircraft missiles on the ground, the Russian army also deployed Mi-35 armed *** for close escort. During the landing, these armed *** will fly over to block the missiles with their fuselages to ensure the safety of Putin's plane.
Putin's plane took a route through Iranian airspace. Due to Russia's friendly relations with Iran, Putin's plane passed through Iranian airspace unhindered. In recent years, Iran has regularly opened its airspace to the Russian Air Force or special aircraft. During the 2014 war in Syria, Iran allowed bombers of the Russian Air Force to fly over Iranian airspace and strike at ground targets in Syria. After flying over Iran, Putin's plane entered the skies over the Persian Gulf and finally reached the United Arab Emirates, with the last stop being Saudi Arabia. During the entire flight, Putin's plane actually only passed through one country, Iran, and the route was safe and reliable.
China played a key role in Putin's visit. Recently, China signed local currency swap agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, involving up to 35 billion yuan. This will push China-Saudi Arabia's economic and trade cooperation to a new level. In addition, most of Russia's current foreign affairs have been settled in RMB, so Russia's cooperation with the UAE and Saudi Arabia also needs China's extensive participation. China plays an important role in promoting economic, trade and cooperation among countries in the Middle East, and has played a key role in guaranteeing the success of Putin's trip to the Middle East.
Putin and the leaders of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will discuss a wide range of topics, including oil markets and energy cooperation, as well as multinational cooperation within the OPEC framework. In addition, they will exchange views on international and regional issues such as the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
On the issue of oil production cuts in the region, Saudi Arabia announced a production cut of 1 million barrels per day, the United Arab Emirates cut production by more than 160,000 barrels, and Russia cut production by 500,000 barrels. However, these production cuts have not led to a significant increase in oil prices, but rather a trend, which is a worrying thing for the three countries. Putin will inevitably delve into this issue with Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
No matter how many topics Putin discusses, he cannot bypass China. China plays a key role in measures to promote trade, trade and cooperation between Russia and the countries of the Middle East. Putin's trip to the Middle East is a move to strengthen the strategic response against the backdrop of the US, Europe and the West encircling him in order to get out of isolation. The West is very worried that Putin's visit will have more results than they expected. After all, the situation in the Middle East is moving in the right direction of peace and stability, and with China's good offices and efforts, the trend of peace is almost unstoppable.