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Outdoors the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan is greatest generally known as proprietor of English soccer champion Manchester Metropolis. At house, he’s deputy prime minister and a strong member of the royal household.
However Sheikh Mansour additionally has a behind-the-scenes function that’s change into more and more vital in latest months: Serving to handle relationships with rich Russians trying to transfer cash into the UAE, in keeping with a number of folks acquainted with Abu Dhabi’s engagement with Russians, who requested anonymity as the data isn’t public.
Whereas Sheikh Mansour has lengthy been concerned in cultivating UAE-Russia relations, the significance and complexities of that place have grown since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the folks stated.
Even because the U.S., EU and different nations have blitzed Russia with hundreds of recent monetary restrictions, making it the world’s most-sanctioned nation, the UAE hasn’t imposed any. Officers within the Center Japanese nation have taken the stance that Abu Dhabi respects worldwide regulation however isn’t required to comply with measures applied by particular nations and that the UAE has the correct to undertake its personal insurance policies, a number of folks acquainted with their pondering stated.
Different U.S. allies, together with Israel and India, have taken the same place.
That method, although, has fueled concern amongst some Western officers who’re nervous about holes in their very own sanctions packages. Earlier this month, Deputy U.S. Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo voiced Washington’s worries about Russian tycoons transferring belongings to the UAE in a name with UAE officers, two folks with data of the discussions stated.
Senior authorities officers, wealthy businessmen and finance executives from Russia are more and more approaching Sheikh Mansour and his workplace for assist managing UAE authorities processes, a number of of the folks stated, including that Russians have grown extra all for investing within the Center Japanese nation because the invasion of Ukraine.
Some are purchasing for penthouses in Dubai, whereas others wish to purchase luxurious automobiles or need assistance establishing financial institution accounts and monetary companies, they stated.
The Ministry of Presidential Affairs, led by Sheikh Mansour, has supplied larger help because the invasion, the folks stated.
UAE officers contemplate Sheikh Mansour’s efforts to be a part of the federal government’s broader technique to draw international enterprise and keep strategic ties with the East and the West, in keeping with a number of of the folks.
The Russia-UAE relationship is especially related given their cooperation throughout the OPEC+ alliance of oil-exporting nations, they stated.
Nonetheless, Sheikh Mansour’s continued work demonstrates the fragile balancing act that UAE officers are trying to drag off. On the one hand, they wish to maintain welcoming the circulation of Russian cash, some from tycoons however a big chunk from extraordinary residents with no ties to the Kremlin. Then again, they’re delicate to how that’s seen by Western allies who’ve ramped up sanctions on Vladimir Putin in addition to a swathe of Russian people and corporations.
“We’ve this conflict of our buddies and allies,” stated Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, an Emirati tutorial based mostly within the UAE. “We don’t wish to exit of our option to displease Washington however we additionally received’t bow all the way down to them. There are many oligarchs with investments within the West, too.”
The Ministry of Presidential Affairs didn’t return calls in search of remark and the UAE Ministry of International Affairs declined to remark. Efforts to succeed in Sheikh Mansour by means of Manchester Metropolis and his places of work weren’t profitable. A spokesperson on the U.S. Treasury Division declined to remark.
Earlier this yr, a spokesperson on the UAE’s Government Workplace of Anti-Cash Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism advised Bloomberg that the nation will proceed to pursue deeper collaboration with international companions on monitoring worldwide flows of cash.
Billionaire Royal
A brother of the UAE’s de facto ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed and Nationwide Safety Adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, Sheikh Mansour, 51, is likely one of the nation’s strongest royals. Earlier than the invasion of Ukraine, he accompanied MBZ to numerous conferences with Russian companies. In 2019, he was current when MBZ met Putin in Abu Dhabi.
MBZ stays the ultimate authority on high-level diplomatic relations with Putin and Russia, the folks stated.
A billionaire in his personal proper, Sheikh Mansour is chairman of the UAE central financial institution. He additionally sits on the board of different companies together with state oil big Adnoc and sovereign wealth fund Abu Dhabi Funding Authority, which oversees greater than $800 billion, in keeping with knowledge compiled by International SWF.
At house, he’s a patron of athletics, backing common occasions from soccer to horse racing and long-distance working. Since he took management of Manchester Metropolis in 2008, the membership has returned to prominence, successful a slew of trophies and changing into one of many world’s most beneficial soccer franchises.
Extra Visits
Russians ranked fourth amongst Dubai’s vacationers within the first two months of 2022 with about 137,000, greater than double the yr prior although decrease than pre-pandemic ranges, in keeping with the Dubai authorities.
Even because the UAE has held off on putting sanctions on Russia, some Emiratis together with Khaldoon Al Mubarak, chief government officer of sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Funding Co., and Yousef Al Otaiba, the UAE Ambassador to Washington, have sought to reassure U.S., U.Ok. and European officers.
At a finance convention in Dubai final month, Al Mubarak stated Mubadala, which has vital U.S. publicity, will keep away from investing in Russia for now, changing into the primary Center East wealth fund boss to supply public feedback on the battle. The transfer was purely industrial and shouldn’t be thought-about a political determination, in keeping with an individual acquainted with the matter.
Mubadala, the place Sheikh Mansour is vice chairman, stated in an emailed assertion that it had paused any additional funding in Russia “given the scenario,” however didn’t present additional particulars.
Nonetheless, Western officers have welcomed the feedback from Mubadala, contemplating it proof of the UAE’s concern about secondary sanctions on anybody conducting enterprise with sanctioned Russian entities, in keeping with a few of the folks.
“The U.S. authorities has illicit finance watchers on excessive alert and have advised the UAE they’re watching carefully, not desirous to entice anybody, extra to stop it,” stated Kirsten Fontenrose, who was senior director for Gulf affairs on the White Home’s Nationwide Safety Council throughout the Trump administration.
Delicate Diplomacy
The UAE stands to learn from its extra welcoming posture towards Russian cash, but it surely’s drawn scrutiny previously for inflows tied to people sanctioned by different nations. The federal government is beneath elevated strain because the Paris-based Monetary Motion Activity Drive, a worldwide anti-money laundering physique, positioned the nation in March on its “grey listing” for not monitoring cash coming into the nation strictly sufficient.
Relations between the UAE and the U.S. have lately soured. The UAE and Saudi Arabia need the U.S. to do extra to counter missile assaults from Iranian-backed Houthi fighters in Yemen. The 2 Gulf nations, in the meantime, have to this point rebuffed Washington’s requests to hike oil manufacturing and cut back costs.
Jodi Vittori, a professor at Georgetown College who research the nexus of economic flows and U.S. nationwide safety, stated disagreements over sanctions coverage will stay a thorny subject.
“If the world cracks down additional on illicit Russian flows and that’s a basis of those economies, the U.S. might have to just accept that they’ll have much less leverage in these diplomatic relationships transferring ahead,” she stated.
–With help from Abeer Abu Omar, Jennifer Jacobs, Nick Wadhams and Daniel Flatley.
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