Ukraine crisis… Another UAE’s foreign policies failure
The crisis of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine constituted another failure of the UAE’s foreign policies, which appeared confused in its positions.
Abu Dhabi’s confusion was evident in its positions towards the war in Ukraine, from cancelling visas for Ukrainians to retreating in the Security Council by voting in favour of a resolution condemning Russia.
Officials in the Emirati regime and those close to them promoted that they “are not waiting for a green light from Washington for their positions” when the country’s mission to the United Nations abstained from voting in favour of a resolution condemning the Russian invasion, which sparked outrage in the United States and Europe.
Visa Waiver
Only one day needed Abu Dhabi to reverse its decision to suspend work, exempting Ukrainians from obtaining a visa to enter the UAE. And on Thursday (March 03), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced its retreat.
On Wednesday, the Kyiv embassy in Abu Dhabi said that the UAE authorities had temporarily suspended the exemption, which sparked European and Ukrainian criticism of the UAE when Europe was opening its doors to refugees from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Faisal Lutfi, Assistant Undersecretary for Consular Affairs, announced that Ukrainians are eligible to obtain entry visas upon arrival in the UAE.
More than a million people have fled Ukraine to neighbouring European countries since the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022. The European Union said it was preparing to receive millions of refugees at a time.
Confusion in the Security Council
On February 25, 2022, the UAE abstained from voting for a resolution that “regretted” the Russian attack on Ukraine.
It repeated the same stance on February 27 by abstaining from voting for the UN General Assembly meeting.
At a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, March 2, 2022, the UAE, along with the rest of the Gulf states, supported condemning Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and demanding Moscow to withdraw its military forces from Ukraine.
Why did the UAE back down and vote in favour of the resolution?
Axios website stated in a report published on Thursday that the United States enlisted Israel to pressure Abu Dhabi to vote on a United Nations resolution condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Israel has already put pressure on officials in Abu Dhabi to reverse the UAE’s position in the Security Council.
Before the vote, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid called the UAE’s foreign minister, Abdullah bin Zayed, and told him that “Israel believes that a vote to condemn Russia would be the right thing to do.”
The US ambassador to Israel, Tom Nedis, publicly thanked the Tel Aviv government for its efforts without directly mentioning the UAE.
This contradicts the statement of the UAE President’s Adviser for Diplomatic Affairs, Anwar Gargash, in a tweet on February 27, 2022, stressing the state’s neutrality that “supporting a party in the Russian-Ukrainian crisis only leads to more violence.”
It contradicts the words of Abdul Khaleq Abdullah, an Emirati political science professor who is close to the decision-making circles in Abu Dhabi: “We no longer need a green light from America or any other Western capital to decide on our national interest.”
When the resolution came before the General Assembly on Wednesday, the UAE and 140 other countries voted to favour the resolution condemning Russia. Only 5 countries stood behind Russia, and 35 countries abstained.
On Wednesday, the Axios website reported that the US State Department withdrew a diplomatic cable to be sent to the US embassies in the UAE and India, stating that the two countries’ neutrality in the Ukraine crisis “puts them in the camp of Russia.”
The draft telegram said that “continuing to call for dialogue, as happened in the Security Council, is not a neutral position, but rather puts you in the camp of Russia, which is the aggressor party in this conflict.”
On the reason for withdrawing the telegram, a US State Department spokesperson said on Wednesday that “the language used was not intended for publication, and the telegram was sent by mistake, and for this reason, it was withdrawn.”
As of March 2022, the UAE holds the presidency of the United Nations Security Council for one month. Itwas elected as a member of the Council for the years 2022 and 2023
