It is not unusual for global political and economic elites to relate well with local elites within any country, and to find common ground and shared interests . And it is not unusual for local elites to relate well with each other., regardless of their partisan affiliations. ..even if one is with the regime and the other is with the opposition.
Ultimately, they belong to the same club.
Opposition leaders, generally, are either from, or aspire to join the economic and political elite. That means that they will automatically have more in common with, and will relate better to, the officials in a regime and the regime’s financiers and beneficiaries, than they do with their own followers and supporters.