0834GMT//Kremlin confirms Putin-Trump meeting; UAE boosts relations with Russia
PUTIN-TRUMP MEETING: The Kremlin confirmed on Thursday that Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin would meet "in the coming days" but it also said that Putin was "very far" from meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky. (COMMENT: Putin later said that the meeting could take place in the UAE. This will be the first meeting betweenTrump and Putin since Trump was re-elected as US President. The meeting should improve US-Russia relations, an important issue for the Kremlin, but ending the war in Ukraine is still a long way off. Importantly for the Kremlin, a meeting between Trump and Putin could also delay extra tariffs on Russia.)
STRONG RUSSIA-UAE RELATIONS: UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed flew to Moscow to meet with Putin on Thursday. There, he promised to double bilateral trade in the next five years. (COMMENT: This was bin Zayed's second visit to the Kremlin in less than a year, highlighting improved relations. One reason for the boom in UAE-Russia relations is the large increase in Russian citizens who now live in the UAE. Thousands of Russians moved to the UAE after Russia's invasion of Ukraine and then Putin's partial mobilisation.)
TARIFFS ON INDIA: Indian companies have dropped crude oil purchases from Russia after the US said that it was doubling tariffs to 50% as punishment for buying Russian oil, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. (COMMENT: The Indian government hasn't yet issued any official guidance to its oil importers on imports of Russian oil. India has become the largest purchaser of Russian oil since the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, triggering US accusations that it is effectively funding the war.)
INDIAN NAT. SEC. ADVISER VISIT: Sergei Shoigu, the Secretary of Russia's Security Council, met with Ajit Doval, India's National Security Adviser, in Moscow to reaffirm their "strategic partnership". (COMMENT: Analysts have said that the meeting focused on a response to US tariffs on India for buying Russian crude oil. The Kremlin may have to offer India discounts on its crude oil purchases.)
TOURISM IN DAGESTAN: The Azimut Hotel chain, controlled by Alexander Klychain, plans to build a 180-bedroom hotel in Derbent on Dagestan's Caspian Sea shore. (COMMENT: Russian domestic tourism numbers to Dagestan have increased since the Pandemic and then the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine. In the first six months of the year, Rosstat reported a 14% increase in Russian tourists in the region.)