Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that contacts between Russia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) "are only developing upwards", whereas stable relations between the countries can be called a factor of stability in the region and the world.
"Over 50 years of our diplomatic relations, the contacts have developed only progressively, only upwards,” President Putin said during his meeting with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in St. Petersburg, RIA Novosti reports.
Putin also said that he would like to discuss the situation in the Middle East, particularly in Syria, where an armed conflict has been ongoing since 2011.
The Kremlin did not announce other topics of Putin's talks between Putin and his UAE counterpart. The Financial Times wrote, however, that the two presidents would also discuss the crisis in Ukraine. According to Putin's official spokesman Dmitry Peskov, the meeting between the two presidents is held in the tete-a-tete format.
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan is the third president of the United Arab Emirates and the ruler of Abu Dhabi. Mohamed is the third son of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who was the first president of the UAE and the ruler of Abu Dhabi.