Just months ago, Vladimir Putin stayed away from the BRICS summit of major emerging economies in South Africa because he faced arrest on war crimes charges. Now he’s getting the red carpet treatment in the Gulf’s two biggest powers.
The Russian leader’s visit tomorrow to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia underlines the willingness of the leading energy producers and long-standing US partners to court ties with Moscow.
Yet his rare foreign trip also caps a period when events appear to be going Putin’s way.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the US and its allies have tried to throttle the Kremlin with sanctions and poured tens of billions of dollars in military and financial aid into supporting Kyiv.
The war-geared Russian economy is rebounding regardless, even benefiting from a bumper wheat harvest. The Ukrainian military is meanwhile struggling to win back the almost 20% of its territory occupied amid a bloody stalemate.
In a sign of the shifting times, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was invited last week to a security conference in North Macedonia attended by the US and European states that he was barred from a year earlier.
While Washington and European capitals still back Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s stance ruling out talks on a cease-fire, Putin is playing a waiting game.
Republican lawmakers have so far blocked Congressional approval for more US aid to Ukraine, while fatigue grows in Europe at the seemingly endless fighting.
Strengthening Russia’s hand, the Israel-Hamas conflict has shifted world attention to the Middle East.
True, Moscow is draining resources to maintain the war effort in Ukraine and has seen its once-dominant European trade collapse.
Yet Putin’s Gulf tour shows that it’s capable of building ties to other parts of the globe, in a fresh sign of Russian resilience. — Henry Meyer