WASHINGTON (AP) – US spies have caught Russian intelligence officers bragging about persuading the oil-rich United Arab Emirates to “cooperate against US and British intelligence services” according to a purported American document posted online as part of a major U.S. intelligence breach.
U.S. officials declined to comment on documents seen by the Associated Press that have known classified markings.On Monday, the Emirates government denied allegations that the UAE had deepened ties with Russian intelligence services. He dismissed it as “absolutely wrong.”
However, the United States has grown concerned that the UAE will allow Russia and Russians to block sanctions imposed for their aggression against Ukraine.
US officials told the Associated Press that they were also concerned that Russian money could flow into Dubai’s hot real estate market.
And he said in October that federal prosecutors in New York accused his two Russian men, based in Dubai, of stealing military technology from U.S. companies and millions of barrels for the oligarchs surrounding Russian President Vladimir Putin. announced indictments against others accused of smuggling oil and tens of millions of dollars. washed.
Prosecutors in that case quoted one of the Dubai-based Russians as assuring his partners “there were no worries” about using a UAE financial institution for the transactions. “This is the (worst) bank in the Emirates,” he was quoted as saying, using an expletive. “They pay to everything.”
In a statement Monday to the AP about the apparent intelligence document, the United Arab Emirates said UAE officials had not seen the document and claims regarding the FSB were “categorically false.”
“We refute any allegation regarding an agreement to deepen cooperation between the UAE and other countries’ security services against another country,” the statement said. “The UAE has deep and distinguished relations with all countries, reflecting its principles of openness, partnership, building bridges, and working to serve the common interests of countries and peoples to achieve international peace and security.”
The leak of the purported document comes as Emirati officials have recalibrated their foreign policy in the Middle East after a series of attacks attributed to Iran. Attacks claimed by Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels hit Abu Dhabi in 2022, killing three people and leading locally stationed American forces to respond with Patriot missile fire. The UAE then reached a de-escalation with Iran when the emirate felt America’s presence in the region declining following its chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. This is despite the fact that the United States maintains several military bases and deploys thousands of troops and weapons in the region, including Al Dhafra Air Base in Abu Dhabi. Dubai’s Jebel Ali port is the busiest US Navy port of call outside the US mainland.
The UAE is also one of the few places that still offers daily direct flights to Moscow after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. , money, megayachts and Russian citizens were brought. But it wasn’t a total hug. Relations between the United States and the United Arab Emirates have changed over the past decade as the Emir of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, consolidated power. Under the Trump administration, the United Arab Emirates diplomatically recognized Israel.
As part of the deal, under President Joe Biden he said the UAE was seeking US advanced F-35 fighter jets but has yet to receive them. Meanwhile, the Emirates has accused Israel of escalating violence between Israel’s far-right government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Palestinians.
