Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Uganda on Tuesday as part of his Africa tour aimed at rallying a geopolitical upper-hand for his country.
He was received at the Entebbe International Airport by his Ugandan counterpart Abubaker Jeje Odongo.
After a closed-door meeting with Lavrov, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni said in a joint news conference that Russia has been supporting the anti-colonial African movement for the past 100 years.
According to the Ugandan president, his country has forgiven those countries, that once colonized Africa and it cannot be against Russia, which has never done any harm to his nation.
“We have even forgiven our former enemies, the ones who colonized us, the ones who took slaves from here, and we are working with them. How can we be against somebody who has never harmed us?” he pointed out.
“Our interest with Russia is that when there is progress and stability in Russia we also benefit, because they buy some things from us and we buy things from them. And we are going to cooperate in specific ways also, in space, in atomic energy. This is what we are looking for, win-win for everybody in the world and it is possible,” Museveni emphasized.
For his part, Lavrov highlighted various cooperation areas between the two countries, including agriculture and space technology.
He said the two countries agreed to set up a lab to help prevent infectious diseases.
“We appreciate the position of Uganda, to the situation in and around Ukraine. The pressure from beyond has not brought our friends to join the anti-Russian sanctions. Such an independent path deserves deep respect,” Lavrov said.
