Vladimir Putin was spotted grinning as he shook hands with representatives from Saudi Arabia and the UAE on Wednesday.
Putin jetted off to the Middle East 24 hours after he refused to socialise with UK envoy Nigel Casey and other European colleagues claiming to have Covid.
The Russian leader stood over 70 feet away from Casey, Britain’s top representative in Russia, as he formally accepted their credentials.
Addressing the new ambassadors from Germany and Australia, Putin said: “Unfortunately, for sanitary reasons, we cannot talk more, socialise.”
But a day later he appeared to have no major issues in greeting his hosts with a firm handshake and no social distancing or masks.
For all the latest on news, politics, sports, and showbiz from the USA, go to Daily Express US
Putin will also hold talks with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in the Kremlin on Thursday, spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a conference call with reporters.
The RUssian leader has sought to cast the Israel-Hamas war as a failure of US diplomacy, charging that Washington had opted for economic “handouts” to the Palestinians and abandoned efforts to help create a Palestinian state.
He has suggested Moscow could play the role of mediator, thanks to its friendly ties with both Israel and the Palestinians, charging that “no one could suspect us of playing up to one party.”
Pro-Kremlin analyst Sergei Markov observed that Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been important allies for Russia, noting that Moscow has profited from high oil prices thanks to the OPEC+ deal it anchored together with Riyadh.
The close ties with the UAE provided one of the avenues for bypassing Western sanctions on Moscow, he added.
Putin visited China in October and made several trips to former Soviet nations in recent months.
