Russia and the UAE: An Outlook for Cooperation in High Technologies
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Ph.D. in History, Full State Counsellor of the Russian Federation, 3rd class; Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Oriental Studies under the Russian Academy of Sciences; Lecturer at MGIMO University; expert on Syria, Eastern Mediterranean and the Gulf, RIAC Expert
There are now increasingly more options for expanding mutually beneficial co-operation between Russia and the UAE due to several objective reasons and drivers. The following ones deserve a special mention.
First, there is space. Quite notably, the first astronaut from the UAE, Hazzaa al-Mansoori, went into space on September 25, 2019 from the Baikonur space launch site on board the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft, which shows the UAE’s confidence in Russia as a great space power. However, Russia’s prospective contribution to the 4IR Strategy is not limited to space only.
The second equally important track is defense, with the UAE faced with the imperative of building a modern military-industrial complex (MIC; clause 8 of the 4IR Strategy). In this regard, Moscow and Abu Dhabi engage through a full-fledged legislative and regulatory framework.
The Intergovernmental Russia-Emirates Commission for Trade, Economic and Technical Cooperation is a convenient platform, as practice has shown, for developing ideas and initiatives along the lines of specialized partnerships between Moscow and Abu Dhabi, as well as for monitoring their implementation.
The fourth promising sectoral area of cooperation is the IT sector in light of the imperative to create an Integrated Cyber Secured Data Environment (clause 20 of the 4IR Strategy), which appears to be highly beneficial for both sides.
There are other pinpoint initiatives, too, such as the investment project launched in 2018 between NAMI FSUE, SOLLERS, Aurus and the Emirati holding Tawazun on the production and sales of vehicles within the Cortege project (Aurus brand) with an initial investment of up to 110 million euro from the UAE. If this succeeds, Russian premium-class vehicles used by royalties in the Arabian monarchies and other LAS states will contribute to promoting Russia’s positive image as a technological power throughout the Middle East and North Africa.
There is notable commonality or closeness of many approaches that Moscow and Abu Dhabi have adopted to the current international agenda, which goes in line with their multipronged policies and the perception of modernity as a transition from a unipolar to a multipolar world, the aspiration to ensure national independence, scientific sovereignty and technological security. This, despite the tightening of Western sanctions against Russia, guarantees a solid basis for long-term and equal cooperation.
On January 7, the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (UAE) signed an agreement with NASA, the US space agency, on providing an airlock for the Lunar Gateway orbital station at an estimated cost of USD 100 million. This has granted Abu Dhabi full access to the station for subsequent involvement of UAE astronauts in lunar projects. Earlier in 2020, the UAE was the only Arab country to join, alongside the U.S., the group of eight founding nations of the Artemis Agreement, a program aimed at ensuring a sustained human presence on the Moon, of which Lunar Gateway is an integral part.
Some were quick to conclude that the UAE has taken Russia’s place in Artemis. As an argument, they cited the refusal of Roscosmos, Russia’s space state corporation, to participate in this initiative due to its “too apparent U.S. orientation”, despite the Joint Statement on Cooperation in Deep Space Exploration, Research and Development, signed by Roscosmos and NASA on the margins of the 68th International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide, Australia, on September 27, 2017, almost 2.5 years before Russia launched its SMO in Ukraine. Moscow, it seemed, preferred Artemis to partner with the China National Space Administration on the International Lunar Research Station construction program, starting in 2021 onwards.
In our opinion, even assuming that the UAE indeed replaces Russia in supplying an airlock to NASA’s lunar station, it should be recognized that this does not mean that there are no horizons for constructive cooperation between Moscow and Abu Dhabi in the field of high technologies, including in space. Nor does it mean that the UAE could somehow “steal” Russia’s competitive advantage on the global market of space services in the foreseeable future, despite Abu Dhabi’s unconditional leadership in space exploration among the LAS member states.
Moreover, there are now increasingly more options for expanding mutually beneficial co-operation between Russia and the UAE due to several objective reasons and drivers. The following ones deserve a special mention.
First, from the very beginning, the UAE has pursued a multipronged strategy in international space cooperation, accumulating positive experience of joint work not solely with Washington. This is in full agreement with Abu Dhabi’s aspiration to implement the ambitious national strategy for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, launched in September 2017 (paragraphs 7 and 17; hereinafter referred to as the 4IR Strategy). Thus, the Al Amal (“Hope”) probe for Mars exploration, albeit built with U.S. assistance, was launched into Earth orbit on July 19, 2020 using a Japanese rather than U.S.-made rocket.
Second, there is real groundwork in Russian-Emirati cooperation. Quite notably, the first astronaut from the UAE, Hazzaa al-Mansoori, went into space on September 25, 2019 from the Baikonur space launch site on board the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft, which shows the UAE’s confidence in Russia as a great space power. The second astronaut, Sultan al-Neyadi, made the first-ever spacewalk in the Arab history on April 21, 2023 from the International Space Station, which was built in the 1990s with Russia’s most active involvement.
A notable milestone was the signing of a bilateral intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes at the 72nd International Astronautical Congress in Dubai on October 26, 2021 (ratified in Russia in December 2023). Not only were the subjects for dialogue clearly defined therein—such as astrophysical research and planetary exploration; remote sensing of the Earth; satellite communications and navigation; space geodesy, meteorology, materials science, biology and medicine; manned space programs and spacecraft launch services—but also appropriate intellectual property and confidential information protection was ensured. This opens opportunities for joint efforts to create new space exploration equipment and technologies through R&D (both bilateral and multilateral – with the involvement of China), and so the UAE Space Center considers scientific experiments called to help mankind explore Mars to be a promising area of partnership with Russia (the first landing of Emirati cosmonauts/astronauts on the Red Planet is scheduled for 2037).
Certainly, Russia’s prospective contribution to the 4IR Strategy is not limited to space only. The second equally important track is defense, with the UAE faced with the imperative of building a modern military-industrial complex (MIC; clause 8 of the 4IR Strategy). In this regard, Moscow and Abu Dhabi engage through a full-fledged legislative and regulatory framework that includes the Agreement on Military-Technical Cooperation (MTC) (signed on 13.11.2006), which was later supplemented by intergovernmental agreements on mutual protection of classified information (entered into force on July 4, 2011), on mutual protection of intellectual property in the course of bilateral MTC (signed on 25.08.2015, entered into force on 17.03.2016), as well as the umbrella Declaration on Strategic Partnership between UAE and Russia dated June 1, 2018, which provides for a deeper cooperation in the field of security and defense (clause 6).
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The UAE is no stranger to Russia’s military products: the country received a batch of the then state-of-the-art IFV-3s in the 1990s; a contract was signed in August 2000 with the Instrument Design Bureau (Tula) to develop the Pantsir-1 anti-aircraft gun and missile system (since 2008 – Pantsir-C1). Russia is visited by the Emirati military on a regular basis – for example, on June 13, 2023, a delegation of the UAE Ground Force led by Major General Saeed Al Shehhi arrived in Moscow.
Rosoboronexport (Russian Defense Export) traditionally participates both in IDEX (the International Defense Exhibition held in Abu Dhabi every two years since 1993) and in Dubai Air Show (the aerospace exhibition organized in Dubai with the same frequency). On November 13-17, 2023, a representative delegation of Russian arms manufacturers, led by the Head of FSMTC Dmitry Shugaev, visited the latter exhibition. All this multiplies the potential for a partnership across various domains, from sales of advanced military equipment to the UAE to joint research and development of airborne weapons with specified properties for export (air defense systems, UAVs, automotive equipment, light and small arms, etc.), for supplies to third countries – e.g., in Africa or Latin America. That said, the advanced algorithms of offset contacts offered by Russia would favorably compare with the traditional schemes of supplies or simple reinvestment of funds in the MIC offered by arms partners in the West.
The Intergovernmental Russia-Emirates Commission for Trade, Economic and Technical Cooperation (IGC) (established in 1994, currently headed by Denis Manturov, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Industry and Trade, and Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, Minister of Economy) is a convenient platform, as practice has shown, for developing ideas and initiatives along the lines of specialized partnerships between Moscow and Abu Dhabi, as well as for monitoring their implementation. The 11th IGC meeting was held on March 15, 2023 in Moscow, with modalities of interaction in space research, energy, banking and IT sectors, industry and transportation clearly outlined there.
The fact that the UAE attaches great importance to the widespread use of renewable energy sources and Intelligent Grids for decentralized power generation (paragraphs 5 and 15 of the 4IR Strategy) opens new prospects for the partnership between Moscow and Abu Dhabi in the third area of high technologies, including low-carbon energy. Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the Russian Federation, His Excellency Dr. Mohammed Ahmed Sultan Essa Al Jaber, specifically mentioned the close cooperation with Russia in the field of clean energy and renewable energy sources, prioritizing the reduction of atmospheric emissions, so as to foster stability in global energy markets, improve agricultural efficiency, develop a carbon market, green and hydrogen energy for the benefit of all mankind. This goes in accord with the energy transformation and consumption strategies adopted by the UAE government, such as Net Zero 2050 (which aims at reducing the share of net energy in the country’s total energy balance to 50% and reaching zero emissions by 2050), the UAE Environmental Agenda (2015-2030) and the UAE National Climate Change Plan (2017-2050). On December 6, 2023, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Government Alexander Novak held another round of negotiations on energy equipment supplies to the UAE on the sidelines of Vladimir Putin’s blitz visit to the UAE.
The fourth promising sectoral area of cooperation is the IT sector in light of the imperative to create an Integrated Cyber Secured Data Environment (clause 20 of the 4IR Strategy), which appears to be highly beneficial for both sides. If the UAE gains access to advanced technologies in cybersecurity, protection of big data, e-government, AI, etc., domestic e-commerce operators will be able to use the UAE as a platform to expand their footprint in the Middle East and beyond, extending it toward Asia and Africa, given the presence of most leading global IT players in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Another option could be a “hub” for rapid promotion of revolutionary startups, optimal business solutions, new products and services.
It is no coincidence that a number of Russian IT companies have established offices in the UAE since 2015, including Technopark/Skolkovo, Aggregator Technologies, and Garant Park Technologies. Such partnerships tend to be more structured: for example, the Russian Export Center together with the Skolkovo Foundation and InfoWatch Group is implementing a project to develop a center to support Russian exports of information and digital technologies within the framework of the Dubai Internet City Free Economic Zone. A positive impetus for the IT partnership was given at the consultations held on August 30, 2019 in Moscow between Konstantin Noskov, the Russian Minister of Communications, and Hamad Obaid Al-Mansoori, Director General of the UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority. Representatives of Kaspersky Lab, RTLabs, Infovotch, UBIC Technologies and Security Code attended the talks. Another driver was the First International Online Conference “Russia-UAE Technology Day” , organized on June 23, 2020 with the assistance of Tech Global (Rosinfocominvest), the Russian Ministry of Communications, and the UAE National Computer Corporation. The tangible outcome of the common efforts was a JV agreement signed in June 2023 by Omega.Future, a domestic developer of IT solutions for the digital transformation of government and business, and Sinaha, the Middle East’s largest e-commerce and marketing platform. The mutual agreement provides for the construction of a plant in Abu Dhabi to produce 3D printers and educational robotics.
Finally, there are other pinpoint initiatives, such as the investment project launched in 2018 between NAMI FSUE, SOLLERS, Aurus and the Emirati holding Tawazun on the production and sales of vehicles within the Cortege project (Aurus brand) with an initial investment of up to 110 million euro from the UAE. If this succeeds, Russian premium-class vehicles used by royalties in the Arabian monarchies and other LAS states will contribute to promoting Russia’s positive image as a technological power throughout the Middle East and North Africa.
In conclusion, I would like to reemphasize the commonality or closeness of many approaches that Moscow and Abu Dhabi have adopted to the current international agenda, which goes in line with their multipronged policies and the perception of modernity as a transition from a unipolar to a multipolar world, the aspiration to ensure national independence, scientific sovereignty and technological security. This, despite the tightening of Western sanctions against Russia, guarantees a solid basis for long-term and equal cooperation. A positive factor is that mutual understanding and trust have grown between the leaders of Russia and the UAE, which was once again manifested during the recent visit of Vladimir Putin to Abu Dhabi.
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