ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Russia offered weapons for sale Monday at a biennial arms fair in the United Arab Emirates, ranging from Kalashnikov assault rifles to missile systems — despite facing sanctions from the West over its war on Ukraine.

The arms for sale at the International Defense Exhibition and Conference held in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi underscores how the Gulf Arab federation has sought to embrace Moscow while balancing its ties to the West.

As Russia’s war on Ukraine approaches its first anniversary on Friday, Russian money continues to flood into Dubai’s red-hot real estate market.

Daily flights between the Emirates and Moscow provide a lifeline for both those fleeing conscription and the Russian elite. The US Treasury has expressed concerns about the amount of Russian cash flowing into the Arabian Peninsula country.

The arms fair typically sees the Emiratis host individuals that could be seen as problematic in the West. Former Sudanese strongman Omar al-Bashir came in 2017. Chechen regional leader Ramzan Kadyrov, himself now deeply involved in the Ukraine war, attended in 2019 and 2021.

This year’s event drew Libya’s Khalifa Hifter, the commander of the self-styled Libyan National Army who faces a US lawsuit accusing him of orchestrating indiscriminate attacks on civilians and torturing and killing political opponents.

But while not directly acknowledged, the tendrils of Russia’s war on Ukraine could be seen everywhere at the fair Monday.

To reach Russia’s exhibition tent, those attending the fair had to leave Abu Dhabi’s cavernous National Exhibition Center and cross along a skybridge to an outdoor area.

Russian officials delayed Associated Press journalists from going inside their tent as an event was going on, initially without explanation. About an hour later, AP journalists saw Denis Manturov, Russia’s minister of trade and industry, come out of the tent.

Manturov is sanctioned by both the United States and the United Kingdom, with London describing him as being “responsible for overseeing the Russian weapons industry and responsible for equipping mobilised troops” in the war on Ukraine. Yet Manturov described the ongoing war as providing advertising for Russian weaponry.

“Any military action is further accompanied by interest in those products, those weapons that are in demand in a given military conflict,” he said, according to the Tass news agency. “Therefore, certainly, interest is now high in air defense systems — short-, medium-, and long-range ones.”

He added: “Each transaction is subject to close scrutiny from our Western colleagues — they are trying to create obstacles; we ensure the security of such deals so that they are as effective as possible and implemented privately.”

Emirati officials did not directly acknowledge Manturov’s presence.