Why Vladimir Putin must have felt like we did after Covid lockdown as he left Russia for trip to the Gulf

The trip was only his second outside Russia this year

It has been an exciting couple of months for Vladimir Putin.

The Russian president has barely left his home country since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued him with an arrest warrant in March, meaning if he set foot on many nations’ territory, he would be immediately arrested.

Now, however, he is on the second leg of a whistlestop tour of his best pals, on an official visit to the Gulf just weeks after his trip to China to see president Xi Jinping. He must be feeling like the rest of us did the first time we left our local council area at the end of lockdown.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin and President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan holding a meeting in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. Mr Putin will also meet Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

On Wednesday, he arrived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where he was greeted with a performance from the national aerial acrobatics team.

"Our relations have reached unprecedented levels,” Mr Putin told UAE president Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi, as the planes drew the Russian flag in the sky with smoke trails.

His next stop was Saudi Arabia, where he met the kingdom's de-facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Meanwhile, back home on Thursday, he hosted Iranian president Ibrahim Raisi, to talk about the Israel-Gaza war.

Mr Putin’s visit comes at a time when he is keen to prove to the world that, despite the best attempts of the West, he is not isolated and does have a strong power base around him, particularly in the lead-up to his presidential election, which is due to be held in March.

While both Saudi Arabia and Iran have cosied up to Mr Putin in recent times, the UAE has officially adopted a fairly neutral stance in the Ukraine conflict. However, it, like Saudi Arabia, do not recognise the jurisdiction of the ICC, which has accused Mr Putin of the war crime of illegally deporting Ukrainian children to Russia, meaning he is safe to travel there without fear of arrest.

He has also tried to introduce his local pals into his international friendship gang.

In a meeting likely brokered by Mr Putin, China has recently welcomed his most loyal ally, Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, who looked like a local councillor who had somehow found himself invited to the Queen’s birthday party when he was pictured alongside Mr Xi this week.

The Gulf trip is only Mr Putin’s second properly international visit this year, having shunned major summits including Brics in South Africa in August and the G20 summit in September in India. He has also missed COP28, which was going on in Dubai, less than 100 miles away from where he met Sheikh Mohamed.

Mr Putin has made other short excursions, but only to former Soviet nations with whom he has extremely close ties, including Belarus and Kyrgyzstan, as well as Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine.

Pictures from the visit, which showed him uncharacteristically jolly as he was welcomed by the Gulf leaders, suggested the break did him the world of good. It’s nice to catch up with your friends, especially when you haven’t seen them in a while.