President Vladimir Putin told the visiting president of the United Arab Emirates that relations between the two states amounted to a “strategic partnership” and thanked him for mediation efforts in exchanging prisoners of war with Ukraine, Reuters reports.

Russian news agencies providing an account of a dinner Putin hosted at his residence for President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan indicated the two men would discuss violence in the Middle East and the war in Ukraine in formal talks today.

Agencies quoted Putin as saying that the situation in the Middle East was “complicated”, with Israel engaged in combat in both Gaza and southern Lebanon.

He thanked the president for “personal relations” which enabled both countries to solve problems. He cited in particular the UAE’s help in arranging prisoner exchanges in the more than two and a half year old war with Ukraine.