- Diplomatic relations between Russia (then the USSR) and the United Arab Emirates began almost immediately after the announcement of the establishment of the UAE in December 1971.
- In January 1972, a delegation from the USSR visited the Emirates. During the visit, it was agreed to establish diplomatic missions of two countries at ambassador level.
- However, these agreements were not implemented until November 1985, when Moscow and Abu Dhabi announced the establishment of bilateral relations at the level of the embassies.
- A diplomatic mission of the USSR was opened in March 1986. A year after (in April 1987) the UAE Embassy was opened in Moscow
- Undoubtedly, opening of diplomatic missions gave a huge impetus to the development of wide range of bilateral relations, particularly in the field of economy.
- Therefore, in April 1988, within an economic cooperation, Moscow received a loan from the United Arab Emirates in the amount of 50 million USD.
- In December 1989, a delegation of the Russian Foreign Bank visited Abu Dhabi to discuss additional borrowing opportunities and participation of the UAE financial institutions in issuing of the USSR financial credit instruments.
- An Air Transport Agreement was signed between two countries in 1987.
- It is noteworthy that the Aeroflot’s office operated in Abu Dhabi since 1979.
- In 1988, the number of Soviet sea carriers signed agreements with the UAE company Sharaf Shipping. In January 1990 an Agreement on Trade, Economic and Industrial Cooperation between two countries was signed in Moscow After dissolution of the USSR, despite the difficult situation of Russia in its 90s of the past centuries, the good relations between two countries were not interrupted.
- Bilateral relations have continued to develop gradually until the end of the first decade of this century. Then the relationship began to develop rapidly.
- There were series of meetings at the level of Foreign Ministers, including working visits of His Excellency Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov to Abu Dhabi in 2011 and 2016, as well as numerous visits to Moscow of His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Arab Emirates, co-chairman of Intergovernmental Russian-UAE Commission on Trade, Economic and Technical Cooperation
