Involving not to damage their relations with Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, yet close to the United States, refuse to take sides in the war in Ukraine.
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While Western countries strive to diplomatically isolate Russia, as evidenced by the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly at an overwhelming majority, Wednesday, March 2, of a resolution requiring Russia ceases to cease His intervention in Ukraine, the two main powers of the Gulf are distinguished by their desire to maintain a neutral position, even ambiguous, with regard to Moscow.
If the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have supported the UN Wednesday, Abu Dhabi resolution decided on February 25 to refrain from voting on a similar text presented before the UN Security Council. . Non-permanent member of the Council, the United Arab Emirates took the chair, Tuesday 1 March, for a month.
Contrary to the resolutions of the General Assembly, which are not binding, those presented before the Security Council of the United Nations, where Russia has a veto right, have more weight and consequences. According to a Maghreb diplomat, the choice of voting for the resolution of the General Assembly a few days after abstaining the Security Council responds to the will “not to annoy Russia without paying the United States”. An equilibrist number that slice with the positions of the traditional allies of the United States or European countries.
“Take part would only generate violence. [The priority of the United Arab Emirates] is to encourage all parties to resort to diplomatic action,” said Sunday, Anwar Gargash, the diplomatic advisor. Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Mohammed Ben Zayed, a leader of the United Arab Emirates, to justify the abstention of the monarchy to the Security Council.
growing frustration with regard to Washington
The day before the vote, Antony Blinken had called his Emirati counterpart, Abdallah Ben Zayed, to reaffirm “the importance of building a strong international response to support the sovereignty” of Ukraine. Pily lost.
The neutrality of the Emirates is part of a growing frustration context in the way the Biden administration processes security issues in Gulf. Shortly after entering, Mr. Biden had withdrawn the Yemeni Houthist rebels from the list of terrorist organizations established by the United States. A bad decision by Abu Dhabi.
Analysts close to the monarchy do not fail to emphasize that the United States has also not, in their eyes, taken sufficiently seriously the ballistic missile shots launched by the Hushists of Yemen against the territories Saudi and emirati, in recent months. Russia, for its part, has taken up, on Monday, February 28, a resolution proposed by the United Arab Emirates which aims to extend to the whole of the Houthist movement an arms embargo imposed by the United Nations to several leaders of the movement.
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