Ties with Russia and allies come under more scrutiny as autocrat/democrat divide widens

UAE and Saudi foreign policy choices are coming under renewed scrutiny as Washington pushes to encourage the Gulf heavyweights to rethink their links to Russia, particularly over energy policy, and their alignments with other autocrats such as recent visitor to Abu Dhabi Syria’s President Assad. GSN has heard of talks between UAE officials and a key Russian figure in the Ukraine war, Chechnya’s Ramzan Kadyrov, which could raise further important questions about the nature of Abu Dhabi’s involvement.