UAE offers lifeline to struggling Russian tech sector

Faced with tough Western technology sanctions, Russia turned to a reliable ally — the United Arab Emirates. Arab countries should end this dishonorable trade.

The UAE has cemented its friendship with Moscow since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.Recently, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov awarded Mohammed al Jaber, UAE Ambassador to Russia, was awarded the Medal of Friendship.

The friendly relations between the two countries pose a great threat to the security of the West. The UAE has become the main channel of Russia’s strategic supply chain, transportation Iranian drones fly to Moscow and help Russia circumvents restrictions on its oil. Emirati state entities Edge Group and G42 employ large numbers of Russian engineers and bring them to Abu Dhabi and Dubai.U.S. technology companies and military partners such as Lockheed Martin and Microsoft have ties to both Emirati entities, providing train For Apache pilot and dedication Advanced cloud computing.Trade between Russia and the UAE Increase According to Tass news agency, in 2022, it will increase by 68% year-on-year to reach 9 billion US dollars.

The UAE aims to create a robust cybersecurity industry that can both protect itself and conduct and profit from domestic surveillance. Chinese-American Peng Xiao, chief executive of G42 subsidiary Presight.aim, has been pushing for online investment in the UAE.he recently inked Joint venture with Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems for cyber investments within the Astana hub in Kazakhstan. Under the guise of commercial motives, the deal meant that Russian engineers working for the G42 would gain access to critical infrastructure in Kazakhstan. Remember, Russia recently deployed soldiers to quell protests in Kazakhstan. Russia provides expertise and manpower. UAE provides financial support.

Russian expertise supports the UAE’s own intelligence gathering.Russian geospatial intelligence company ScanEx has move Supplying the UAE with high tech that the West rejects: As early as 2013, Russian intelligence services informed their Emirati counterparts that the United States had introduce A malfunctioning component of the country’s French Falcon Eye satellite has limited the independent use of its shutter eye.

UAE through its “crow project‘This hack of journalists, lawyers, politicians – and me – shows the willingness of the UAE government to suppress all dissent. For Project Raven, Emirati cyber specialist Dark Matter hired American technicians, many of whom quit after discovering the true purpose of their work.American lawmakers urge The Treasury and State Departments sanction dark matter. Russia is now the preferred partner of the UAE.

That suits the Kremlin. As the Russian economy struggles under sanctions, the government is seizing strategic tech assets. Russia’s Minister of Digital Development Maksut Shadayev has ensured that IT specialists are exempt from state army mobilization. Even so, tech leaders have fled to Kazakhstan, Israel, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.An estimated 100,000 IT professionals get away Russia in 2022.

Given their strategic utility and global reach for national security, these populations are there is a certain risk coercion and cooperation. Russia has traditionally conducted surveillance of dissident expatriates, and Russia’s FSB, SVR, and GRU security agencies may be building offshore technology capabilities.

The UAE’s alliance with Russia caught the West off guard. The positive narrative of the UAE leadership’s fight against violent extremism may prove useful after 9/11, but the UAE is now promoting Russian national security interests. To avoid additional damage to Western security, the West needs to recognize — and confront — the UAE’s alignment with Russian national security.

Matthew Hedges is a scholar focused on authoritarianism. While conducting fieldwork for his PhD in the UAE, he was detained, tortured and sentenced to life in prison on charges of espionage on behalf of the British government. Durham University awarded him a PhD, which he published as Reinventing the Sheikhdom; MBZ Clans, Power and Patronage in the UAE. Since then, Matthew has testified before the House of Lords, the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO), the European Parliament, the US Congress and the House of Representatives, and the United Nations and other international organizations. His current research focuses on the commercial activities of non-Western intelligence organizations.

bandwidth is CEPA’s online journal dedicated to advancing transatlantic technology policy cooperation. All views are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the position or views of the institutions they represent or the Center for European Policy Analysis.