Eritrea’s foreign minister, Osman Selah, and presidential advisor, Yemane Ghebreab, paid an official visit to Moscow on April 27 and 28, at the invitation of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
During the meeting with the Russian Foreign Minister, the reasons for Moscow’s intervention in Ukraine were explained and an update on the current progress of military operations was provided, while in the joint press conference Foreign Minister Saleh recalled Eritrea’s position, which calls on the two countries to find a bilateral solution to the conflict.
Lavrov said that Eritrea’s pragmatic approach in every sphere of international politics has been positively fruitful, while Minister Saleh said that “the lords of the unipolar order are working offside to destabilize and bring under their control every country, as well as to systematically destabilize any cooperation between them, and in this overall scheme Eritrea remains their primary target.”
The talks between the two foreign ministers then focused on issues in the Horn of Africa, and in particular on the evolution of the crisis in the Ethiopian regional state of Tigray and more generally on developments in the region.
Finally, Russia and Eritrea agreed on the need to increase their political, economic and cultural relations, working above all on trade, investment and training.
Saleh’s visit to Moscow is part of the renewed relationship between Eritrea and Russia, which led Asmara – the only one on the African continent – to vote against the resolution condemning Russia at the UN Security Council last March.
Eritrea, burdened by new sanctions and in difficulty on an international level as a result of its role in the conflict in Ethiopia, today looks to Russia with renewed interest in an effort to bypass international isolation and alleviate the heavy consequences of the economic crisis. Russia, at the same time, considers the hypothesis of establishing in Eritrea a logistic outpost for its navy, considering both Massawa and Assab as possible landing places.
Eritrea’s Foreign Minister Osman Saleh in Russia meets Lavrov
Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh goes to Moscow and renews his political support to Russia. Growth of political and economic relations at the center of the debate, while Russia considers the possibility of developing its own naval bases in Eritrea.
