In search of new partners, Russia courts Gulf countries

MUSCAT, Oman — In a search for new economic and military partners, Russia has turned its focus to Gulf countries, as Moscow carries on its three-year war against Ukraine.

On April 17, the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

During his visit, the two leaders announced the creation of a joint investment fund, to which each nation would contribute upwards of $1 billion, as first reported by Reuters.

One of the sectors the deal will cover is technology, according to the Russian news agency Interfax, but details were scant.

“The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Qatar Investment Authority launched their first investment platform in 2014 – to date, the platform has facilitated investments in various projects across Russia in banking services, AI, metal production, transport, and logistics,” the Interfax report quoted the RDIF as stating .

Only a few days after this announcement, the sultan of Oman, Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, became the first head of state of the Gulf country to visit Moscow.

Following his meeting with the Omani leader, Putin announced his intention to organize a summit with the Arab League group of countries later this year. The regional organization currently has 22 member states and is focused on promoting closer cooperation on matters of common interest.

It would be the first time the Kremlin hosts such a summit. In the past year, Russia has sought to deepen its military cooperation with Iran, a country that many Gulf states are at odds with.

The sultan’s trip to Moscow was ahead of the meeting between top U.S. and Iranian negotiators, set to meet in Oman on April 26, to continue their negotiations on a possible nuclear pact.

Meanwhile, Iran, Russia and China held their fifth joint naval exercise in the Gulf of Oman last month.

Russian defense companies have attempted to get back into the global arms market, with state-owned companies banking on prominent displays of weaponry at recent trade shows organized in the Middle East.

With well over a dozen Russian exhibitors, the setting of the 2025 IDEX and NAVDEX defense shows in February was markedly different than the 2023 edition, when Moscow-based firms were not even listed on the show’s official website.

This time around, they were placed in one of the most central and busiest halls of the show, alongside key regional players, including Saudi Arabia’s Military Industries and Qatar’s Barzan Holdings.

Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo was a Europe correspondent for Defense News. She covers a wide range of topics related to military procurement and international security, and specializes in reporting on the aviation sector. She is based in Milan, Italy.

阿曼马斯喀特——随着莫斯科继续对乌克兰发动长达三年的战争，俄罗斯为了寻找新的经济和军事伙伴，已将目光转向海湾国家。

4月17日，卡塔尔埃米尔谢赫·塔米姆·本·哈马德·阿勒萨尼在莫斯科会见了俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京。

据路透社报道，访问期间，两国领导人宣布成立联合投资基金，两国将各自出资超过 10 亿美元。

据俄罗斯国际文传电讯社报道，该交易将涵盖的领域之一是科技，但细节尚不清楚。

据国际文传电讯社报道，俄罗斯直接投资基金（RDIF）表示：“RDIF和卡塔尔投资局于2014年推出了他们的第一个投资平台——迄今为止，该平台已促成了俄罗斯各地银行服务、人工智能、金属生产、运输和物流等各个领域的投资。”

消息公布仅几天后，阿曼苏丹海赛姆·本·塔里克·阿勒赛义德就成为首位访问莫斯科的海湾国家元首。

在与阿曼领导人会晤后，普京宣布计划于今年晚些时候与阿拉伯联盟国家举行峰会。该区域组织目前拥有22个成员国，致力于促进在共同关心的问题上开展更紧密的合作。

这将是克里姆林宫首次主办此类峰会。过去一年，俄罗斯一直寻求深化与伊朗的军事合作，而伊朗与许多海湾国家关系不睦。

苏丹此次莫斯科之行是在美伊高级谈判代表4月26日在阿曼会晤之前进行的，双方将继续就可能的核协议进行谈判。

与此同时，伊朗、俄罗斯和中国上个月在阿曼湾举行了第五次联合海军演习。

俄罗斯国防企业试图重返全球武器市场，国有企业寄希望于在近期于中东举办的贸易展上大肆展示武器装备。

2025 年 2 月举行的 IDEX 和 NAVDEX 防务展有十几家俄罗斯参展商，与 2023 年的展会相比，情况截然不同。2023 年的展会官方网站上甚至没有列出莫斯科的公司。

这一次，他们的展位被安排在展会最中心、最繁忙的展厅之一，与沙特阿拉伯军事工业公司和卡塔尔巴尔赞控股公司等重要的区域企业并排展出。

伊丽莎白·戈斯林-马洛曾任《防务新闻》欧洲通讯员。她的报道涵盖军事采购和国际安全等广泛领域，尤其擅长航空领域的报道。她常驻意大利米兰。