Russian President Vladimir Putin was escorted to the Middle East by four Russian fighter jets Wednesday for a rare trip abroad.
The President's plane was flanked by Sukhoi-35S fighter jets, which the defense ministry showed flying beside his Ilyushin-96 aircraft from Russia to the United Arab Emirates.
In Abu Dhabi, President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan called Putin his "dear friend" and UAE jets greeted the Kremlin chief with a fly-past trailing the colors of the Russian flag.
"Our relations, largely due to your position, have reached an unprecedentedly high level," Putin told Sheikh Mohammed. "The UAE is Russia's main trading partner in the Arab world."
Putin said Russia and the UAE cooperated as part of OPEC+, whose members pump more than 40% of the world's oil, adding that they would discuss the Israeli-Hamas conflict and Ukraine.
After the UAE, Putin is due to travel to Saudi Arabia for his first face-to-face meeting with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, often referred to as MBS, since October 2019.
His last visit to the region was in July 2022, when he met Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Iran.
Putin's meeting with MBS comes as oil prices fell despite a pledge by OPEC+, which groups the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies led by Russia, to further cut output.
It was not immediately clear what Putin, who has rarely left Russia since the start of the Ukraine war, specifically intends to raise about oil markets with the crown prince of the world's largest crude exporter, just days after disagreements delayed a key OPEC+ meeting.
The Kremlin said that as well as oil, they will talk about Israel's ongoing brutal war on Gaza, the situation in Syria and Yemen, and issues such as ensuring stability in the Gulf, while an aide said Ukraine would also be discussed.
Putin will host Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Moscow on Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
