Dr. Samuel Ramani

During the first year of the war in Ukraine, the UAE pursued a policy of strategic non-alignment. Like its Western partners, the UAE supported a United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) motion on 2 March 2022 that urged Russia to end the war, and later condemned the Russian annexation of four Ukrainian regions in an 12 October 2022 UNGA vote. However, the UAE broke with the West’s stance when it abstained from an 7 April motion to suspend Russian membership in the UN Human Rights Council, and has also resisted US pressure to impose sanctions on Russia.

Understanding the UAE’s Delicate Balancing Strategy on the War in Ukraine

A Western Perspective:

On 9 December, White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby warned that Russia had offered Iran "an unprecedented level of military and technical support," which had turned the relationship into a "full-fledged defense partnership." Kirby claimed that Iran planned to establish a joint production line for drones in Russia, while other reports circulated that Russia intended to export Su-35 jets to Iran and train Iranian pilots to operate them. These dire warnings reflected US alarm about Russia’s use of Iranian Shahed 136 and Mohajer-6 UAVs in Ukraine and its potential acquisition of Iranian ballistic missiles.

Dr. Samuel Ramani

Dr. Samuel Ramani

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