Said Gafurov: UAE - The Gate to Escape Sanctions

Why the Arab Monarchies Still Regret the Dissolution of the Soviet Union

Photo caption: Russian President Vladimir Putin and UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (from right to left) take a photo together after their meeting.

When asked about the location of his meeting with Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin said that Moscow has many friends willing to help organize such events. One of them is the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who arrived in Moscow for an official visit just before Putin made this statement.

Orientalist and associate professor at the Moscow State University of Language and Culture, Said Gafurov, stated in an interview with "Free News" that high-level meetings have global significance and are usually aimed at resolving unresolved contradictions and interest conflicts that cannot be solved at the ministerial or ambassadorial level. Summits are held when a certain number of topics can be agreed upon but require political will to make decisions.

"Free News" (SP): Reports on the negotiations between Putin and Al Nahyan have focused on economic cooperation. But surely issues related to the Middle East situation and its hotspots were also discussed?

—— Of course, the Syria issue, the Iran-Israel issue, these are topics of highest-level exchange of opinions. Whether these issues were discussed can be seen from the final statement.

I don't think Russia and the United Arab Emirates share the same views on these issues. Both sides have people who advocate maximizing relations with Iran economically and politically. However, in the UAE, there are also Western-oriented factions with different views. In the UAE, this opposition is even more intense. Some people dream that the UAE could become a gateway for Iran to escape sanctions, but others strongly oppose it. As a result, Tehran now tends to Qatar more. We have similar situations here — because Israel is a very broad gate for Russia to escape sanctions, and in all aspects: whether financial or technical. Some people directly say: Let Iran go to hell, it's anyway dependent on us.

"Free News" (SP): Apart from joint actions in the oil market, where else are the Arab monarchies interested in Russia? What is the reason we are close to them?

—— First of all, we cannot forget security issues. In addition to other factors, the Russian Federation has veto power in the UN Security Council and the right to convene meetings. They are well aware of this. For example, we did not stop the military action against Saddam Hussein (despite the fact that we could have done so), and Kuwait was very grateful to us.

Moreover, Persian Gulf countries buy our weapons and are generally interested in our technology. Of course, financial operations are extremely important. We are complementary in this area. Our capital costs are high, while their capital costs are low — which is beneficial for them and also for us.

"Free News" (SP): Russia is an opponent of the West. How important is this for the Arab monarchies?

—— Very important! They still regret the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Their room for maneuver has greatly decreased. Although some countries have risen to become [superpowers], they prefer a multipolar structure rather than a bipolar one. Just as we often say — multipolarity. For them, a three-pole system is better than a two-pole one. That is to say, they sympathize with us, both out of geopolitical calculations and not only out of national sentiment. The more poles there are, the easier and more convenient it is for small countries with large amounts of money to act.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7536204393536897590/

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