Putin visits Saudi Arabia and the UAE on Wednesday

President Vladimir V. Putin will make a rare trip to the Middle East on Wednesday, the Kremlin announced, saying he would discuss bilateral ties, oil and international affairs in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The trip is part of a series of diplomatic meetings the Russian leader will hold this week; On Thursday, Mr Putin will host in Moscow President Ebrahim Raisi of Iran, the leader of another major player in the region.

Mr Putin, who has not traveled beyond China, Iran and the former Soviet states since launching the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, will visit both the UAE and Saudi Arabia in one day, Dmitry S. Peskov, his spokesman, journalists told a briefing on Tuesday.

The meetings come as Ukraine tries to boost Western aid for its war effort, amid signs of waning support in the United States. President Volodymyr Zelensky will address the US Senate on Tuesday in an effort to emphasize the urgency of maintaining US financial and military support.

Ukraine will be another issue looming over Putin’s talks, even if the Kremlin has not put it on the agenda. Saudi Arabia has tried to act as a mediator in the war, inviting some 40 countries to a peace conference in August and last year helping organize a successful prisoner exchange involving U.S. and British citizens with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. mediate the release.

Now there is renewed speculation in Russia about possible peace talks, amid questions about the sustainability of Western support for Ukraine and as Ukrainian officials acknowledge that this year’s counteroffensive has failed to achieve a significant breakthrough.

Quoting an unnamed, highly placed Russian source: Izvestia, a pro-Kremlin daily, reported this on Tuesday that Russia would have no objection to holding talks with Ukraine in a European country like Hungary. In a interview At RBC, a Russian business magazine, Grigory Yavlinsky, a longtime Russian politician who met Mr. Putin in October, said he had offered to become an intermediary in such talks.

Mr. Zelensky, who has pledged that Ukraine will continue to fight to liberate its territory, told The Associated Press in an interview last week that he did not yet feel pressure from allies to negotiate with Russia, although “some voices are always heard.”

Shot, a Russian Telegram channel that first reported Mr. Putin’s travel plans on Monday, said the president would first visit the United Arab Emirates and then go to Saudi Arabia to meet Prince Mohammed.

Yuri Ushakov, Mr Putin’s foreign policy aide, told Schot that the Kremlin considered the talks with Prince Mohammed ‘very important’.

“I hope these negotiations will be very useful,” he said.

Mr. Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said Mr. Putin would discuss the war between Israel and Hamas as well as possible joint actions to coordinate global oil production to ensure price stability. These joint efforts have helped develop strong ties between Russia and Saudi Arabia and personally between Mr. Putin and Prince Mohammed over the years.

The UAE played a role in the Russian release of American basketball player Brittney Griner in a prisoner swap a year ago. She was delivered from Russian custody on a tarmac at Abu Dhabi airport.