Leaked US documents contain information that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has arrested a Russian intelligence officer who boasts that he "convinced him to cooperate against US and British intelligence services," the Associated Press reported on the 10th.
Regarding the document, which was viewed by The Associated Press and marked top secret, the UAE government “dismissed accusations that the UAE had deepened relations with Russian intelligence services as ‘clearly false’.
The Associated Press said the document contained citations from a study titled "Russia/UAE: Deepening intelligence ties". It was similar to other documents that have been published.”
Responding to the document, the Associated Press said, referring to the FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, "FSB officials reached an agreement in mid-January with UAE security service officials that Russia would cooperate against US and British intelligence agencies." "We will see our relationship with Russian intelligence as an opportunity to strengthen the growing ties between Abu Dhabi (the capital of the UAE) and Moscow and to diversify our intelligence partnership amid fears that the United States will break away from the region."
The AP went on to say that Russian foreign intelligence chief Sergey Naryshkin held extensive meetings with UAE leaders in Dubai in 2020.
The Associated Press reported on the 31st of last month that “the US Treasury Department is concerned about the amount of Russian money flowing into the real estate market in the UAE’s most populous city.”
"Theoretically, for the UAE to be willing to act as a bridge, allowing Russian oligarchs to use Emirates as a stopover between the Russian and Western financial systems, there should be significant reputational risk," said Jody Vitori, a professor at the Carnegie Foundation for International Peace. “Dubai is a money laundering paradise,” he said extensively.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Elizabeth Rosenberg singled out the UAE as a 'focus country' and said, "Companies there are helping Russia circumvent international sanctions to finance U.S. semiconductors and other export-controlled components, including those used on the battlefield." said.
US intelligence officials recently pointed out possible links between the UAE and the Wagner Group, a Russian paramilitary group with close ties to the Kremlin and operating in Ukraine and several African countries, and in 2020, the US Defense Intelligence Agency said "the UAE is operating the group (Wagner)." could provide some funding," the AP said.
“Russia and the UAE share similar prospects in some major conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa,” said Kristian Ulrichsen, a Middle East expert at Rice University’s Baker Institute. The bond has strengthened,” he told The Associated Press.
Regarding the leaked documents, the Associated Press said, “It occurred as UAE officials readjusted foreign policy in the Middle East after a series of attacks by Iran. U.S. forces stationed there responded with Patriot missile launches, and since then the UAE has reached a détente with Iran as the UAE senses a weakening U.S. presence with its chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.”
The United States currently has several military bases and thousands of troops and weapons stationed in the region, including Al Dhafra Air Base in the capital, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai's Jebel Ali Port is the largest US naval port of call outside the US mainland. .
The UAE remains the only country in the Middle East with daily direct flights to Moscow, even after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The UAE diplomatically recognizes Israel from the US Republican Trump administration and has been promised US F-35 purchases, but has yet to receive F-35 fighter jets from the Democratic Biden administration.
During a visit to the UAE, South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol visited the Korean military dispatched unit and made the statement, “The UAE is less Iran.”
Iran has agreed to normalize relations with Saudi Arabia by reopening its embassy through Chinese mediation.