UAE President meets Russian Putin to discuss Ukraine

DUBAI (Reuters) – UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan will travel to Russia on Tuesday to meet President Vladimir Putin, the official Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported on Monday.

The UAE Foreign Ministry said the visit aims to help find “effective political solutions” to the Ukraine crisis.

The ministry added that the UAE seeks “to achieve positive results to reduce military escalation, reduce humanitarian repercussions, and reach a political settlement that achieves global peace and security.”

The visit comes less than a week after OPEC +, the group of oil producers that includes the UAE and Russia, agreed to make deep cuts in oil production in defiance of US pressure.

Sources said the decision by Saudi Arabia-led OPEC and its allies led by Russia, the group known as OPEC+, further strained relations between Washington and its traditional Gulf allies in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.

The administration of US President Joe Biden lobbied hard to prevent production cuts, hoping to keep a lid on gasoline prices ahead of the midterm elections in which his Democratic Party could lose control of Congress.

Biden traveled to Jeddah in July for a Gulf summit to try to mend ties, but left without getting an agreement to increase oil production.

(Ahmed Elhamy reports from Cairo). Written by Youssef Saba and Nadine Awadallah in Dubai. Editing by Mark Heinrich and Lisa Schumaker

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