Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked the United Arab Emirates for its contribution to holding prisoner exchanges with Ukraine and hosting talks on resolving the conflict, during a meeting with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in the Kremlin on January 29, TASS reported.

The arrival of the UAE President follows the UAE's hosting of Russian and Ukrainian officials earlier on January 23-24 for direct peace negotiations between the two sides, but also comes as the UAE tries to calm tensions closer to home with Iran and the US increasingly ramping up the rhetoric between the two sides amid an Armada of US naval forces in the region. 

"I would especially like to acknowledge the efforts of the Emirati side in the context of resolving the Ukraine crisis, its contribution to holding prisoner exchanges and assistance to hosting various forms of contacts on UAE soil," Putin said, adding that Russia highly appreciated these efforts.

"We are grateful to you personally for the efforts toward holding trilateral talks as part of a working group on security in Abu Dhabi last week and for the attention paid to our delegation," Putin told his UAE counterpart.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said bilateral relations were the main topic of the talks, describing the UAE as Russia's key trading partner in the Arab world, RIA Novosti reported on January 29.

"Regarding bilateral relations, the Emirates is our main trading partner in the Arab world. Our mutual trade turnover has grown significantly recently. We are developing relations in practically all areas, doing so successfully and on a mutually beneficial basis," Peskov said.

The talks included participation from Kirill Dmitriev, Putin's special representative, and Igor Kostyukov, head of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian army, who led Russia's delegation at the Abu Dhabi negotiations with Washington and Kyiv.

He was accompanied by a delegation including Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, managing director of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, and several other senior officials.

The UAE also plans to expand its nuclear energy sector and is exploring the possibility of participating in Rosatom projects in third countries. The Russian corporation has already submitted proposals to its partners. According to Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev, these include the construction of large and small nuclear power plants, both land-based and floating.

On the Iran-US stand-off in the Persian Gulf, Putin said, "Of course, we are all closely monitoring what is currently happening on the Iranian track," the Russian head of state said.

The UAE is increasingly in the crosshairs of a conflagration between Tehran and Washington. Iran has already signalled that US bases “across the Persian Gulf, including in Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE” are in its target set in any confrontation.

To add to worries for MbZ, Al Dhafra Air Base and other facilities tied to US presence would be targets in a potential regional war with Iran, with ports and even the UAE’s nuclear site being reported as a potential target if the situation were to get out of hand.

 The UAE’s brand as a safe hub for business, tourism and logistics has already been rattled by relatively limited Houthi drone and missile attacks.

A potential direct Iran‑US confrontation spilling onto Emirati soil would sharply raise risk premiums and insurance costs and could trigger capital flight and a collapse in tourism in the short term.