According to the UAE state news agency WAM, UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan will go to Russia on Tuesday to meet with President Vladimir Putin.

The news comes less than a week after OPEC+, a group of oil producers led by the UAE and Russia, agreed to significant cutbacks in oil output in defiance of US pressure.

According to insiders, the move by Saudi-led OPEC and its Russian-led allies, known as OPEC+, has strained relations between Washington and its traditional Gulf allies in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration had pushed hard to prevent the production cut, hoping to keep a lid on gasoline prices ahead of midterm elections in which his Democratic Party could lose control of Congress.

Biden flew to Jeddah in July for a Gulf summit to try to mend relations, but left without securing a deal for higher oil production.