Putin to discuss Israel-Hamas war during a 1-day trip to Saudi Arabia and UAE

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin will make a one-day trip to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia focused on the Israeli-Hamas war and host the Iranian president in Moscow this week, the Kremlin said Tuesday.

Putin will make working visits to both countries on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The talks will focus on bilateral relations, the war between Israel and Hamas and other international issues, Peskov said. Issues related to oil price caps under OPEC+ will also be on the agenda, he added.

Putin’s trip was first announced on Monday by his foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov, who didn’t give a date for the visits when he spoke to the Russian news outlet Life.

“I hope that these will be very useful negotiations, which we consider extremely important,” Ushakov was quoted as saying by Life.

Putin will make the visit at a time when Russia wants to advance its role as a power broker in the conflict in the Middle East.

Putin will host Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in the Kremlin on Thursday, Peskov added.

The Russian president visited China in October and recently made several trips to former Soviet nations.

The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March for war crimes, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine.

Since the warrant was issued, Putin chose not to attend a BRICS summit in South Africa because the country would be obliged to arrest Putin upon arrival as it is a signatory to the international court’s treaty.

Neither Saudi Arabia nor the UAE have signed the ICC’s founding treaty.

The notice against Putin in March was the first time the global court issued a warrant against a leader of one of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. The ICC said in a statement that Putin is accused of the war crime of ” unlawful deportation ″ of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia.