Abu Dhabi - (AFP) - UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan will visit Russia on Tuesday to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, according to official Emirati media, becoming one of the few leaders of countries to pay a similar visit since the invasion of Ukraine.

The Emirates News Agency said on Monday, "His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the State (...) will visit tomorrow to the friendly Russian Federation, during which he will meet with His Excellency Vladimir Putin, the Russian President."

The Emirati president is scheduled to discuss with Putin "the friendly relations between the UAE and Russia, and a number of regional and international issues and developments of common concern."

The visit comes after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies in "OPEC Plus", led by Russia, agreed last week to significantly reduce production quotas, despite US President Joe Biden's recent call to Saudi Arabia to increase production to try to limit the rise in prices.

Representatives of the 13 member states of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and their 10 allies announced during their meeting in Vienna a significant cut in production quotas by two million barrels per day, as of November.

This move angered the United States, and US President Joe Biden expressed "disappointment with the short-sighted decision of OPEC +."

The UAE has long been a strategic regional partner for Washington, but, like its other Gulf neighbors, it is trying to find a balance in its relations with its growing political and economic ties with Moscow.

While the world hastened to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the majority of the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries, especially Saudi Arabia and the UAE, avoided condemning Moscow directly, calling for a peaceful solution.

The UAE abstained from voting on a draft resolution drafted by the United States and Albania condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The UAE is also trying not to harm its relations with European countries as a result of its position.

Germany, seeking to diversify its energy sources, reached an important agreement with the UAE, which is rich in oil and gas, last month, stipulating that the Gulf country will supply the European country with liquefied natural gas and diesel in 2022 and 2023, during a visit by Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Abu Dhabi.

The visit of the Emirati president to Russia is his third foreign visit since his election to office last May, after Saudi Arabia, where he met with US President Joe Biden and France.

He is one of the few presidents who decided to visit Russia since the beginning of its invasion of Ukraine last February.