President Vladimir Putin will go to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday, according to the Kremlin, as Moscow seeks supporters abroad despite its isolation as a result of the Ukraine conflict.
Putin has restricted his worldwide travel since deploying troops to Ukraine, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an international arrest order for Putin on the war crime charge of illegally deporting Ukrainian children.
“President Putin will go on a working visit to the UAE and Saudi Arabia tomorrow,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Tuesday.
He stated that the Russian president would discuss bilateral relations, the Israeli-Hamas conflict, and world issues.
The COP28 UN climate meetings are being held in the United Arab Emirates, but the Kremlin has not said if Putin would attend any connected activities.
Putin has been absent from several high-level international conferences since Moscow initiated large-scale hostilities in Ukraine in February 2022.
To avoid a “political show,” Putin missed the BRICS summit in South Africa in August.
He also missed the headline G20 conference in person in September, though he did attend a virtual G20 gathering in November.
Putin has been wanted by the ICC since March, and member states are required to honor the warrant if the Russian leader enters their country.
Neither the UAE nor Saudi Arabia have joined the founding treaty of the ICC.
Putin paid his first visit outside the former Soviet Union this year to China in October.
He had just returned from ex-Soviet Kyrgyzstan, his first foreign trip since the ICC issued its warrant.