Russian President Vladimir Putin has begun a trip to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, hoping to shore up support in the Middle East from two major oil producers allied to the US as his invasion of Ukraine grinds on.
Mr Putin landed in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the Emirates, a federation of seven sheikhdoms now hosting the United Nations' Cop28 climate talks.
It marked his first trip to the region since before the coronavirus pandemic and the war - and as he faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court over the war in Ukraine.
Neither Saudi Arabia nor the UAE has signed the ICC founding treaty, meaning they do not face any obligation to detain Mr Putin over the warrant accusing him of being personally responsible for the abductions of children from Ukraine during his war on the country.
Mr Putin skipped a summit in South Africa over concerns he could be arrested on arrival there.
Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE's foreign minister, met a smiling Mr Putin after he descended the stairs of his presidential plane.
As he arrived at Abu Dhabi's Qasr al-Watan palace to meet Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the country's ruler, the UAE's military acrobatics team flew in formation with red, white and blue smoke trailing them in the colours of the Russian flag.
"I'm happy to meet you again," Sheikh Mohammed said as he sat with Mr Putin in the palace.
Soldiers on horseback and with camels lined his arrival route, Russian and Emirati flags also hanging from lampposts.
Four Russian Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets accompanied Putin's plane on the flight to the Emirates, Russian state-run media reported.
The pageantry in the Emirates, which relies on the US as its major security partner, highlights the UAE's expansive business ties to Russia that have exploded since grinding Western sanctions targeted Moscow.
Ukrainians on hand for the event expressed outrage over Mr Putin being in the country at the same time they described him as committing environmental crimes in their country.
Marharyta Bohdanova, a worker at the Ukrainian pavilion at the Cop28 climate summit, said: "It is extremely upsetting to see how the world treats war criminals, because that's what he is, in my opinion.
"Seeing how people let people like him in the big events ... treating him like a dear guest, is just so hypocritical in my opinion."
Officials at Russia's pavilion at the talks declined to speak to The Associated Press.
US climate envoy John Kerry and US agency for international development administrator Samantha Power made a point of touring Ukraine's pavilion at Cop28 before being scheduled to address a news conference later on Wednesday afternoon.
Mr Putin last visited the UAE in 2019, receiving a warm welcome from Sheikh Mohammed, then the crown prince of Abu Dhabi. In the time since then, however, the world has greatly changed.
The Russian President isolated himself during the coronavirus pandemic. He launched an invasion targeting Ukraine in February 2022, a grinding war that continues today and has been a topic for Ukrainian diplomats at the COP28 talks.
Meanwhile, the Israel-Hamas war remains a major concern for the Middle East, particularly the UAE, which reached a diplomatic recognition with Israel in 2020.
Recent attacks by Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels also threatens commercial shipping in the Red Sea as Iran's nuclear programme continues its rapid advances since the collapse of the 2016 nuclear deal.
Mr Putin is scheduled to meet with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Thursday for what Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov has described as "a rather lengthy conversation".
The two countries have been discussing ways to get around the Western sanctions targeting them.
Mr Putin will travel to Saudi Arabia and meet with powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the one-day trip, Mr Ushakov said. Those discussions likely will focus on Moscow's other major concern in the Middle East: oil.
Russia is part of Opec+, which is a group of cartel members and other nations that have managed production to try and boost crude oil prices. Last week, the group expanded some output cuts into next year and brought up-and-coming oil supplier Brazil into the fold.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here