Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visits Kenya to shore up support for Putin
3 min read
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visits Kenya to shore up support for President Putin amid war with Ukraine
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visits Kenya to shore up support for President Putin amid war with Ukraine.
As part of his fourth trip to Africa in the past year and in the midst of a year-long conflict with Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov landed in Kenya on Monday for a working visit to strengthen support for Moscow.
Moscow’s top diplomat is expected to meet President William Ruto and other top State officials, before heading to South Africa for a BRICS meeting –the group of five emerging nations including Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa challenging what they call the dollar hegemony.
After being isolated and suffering from crippling sanctions imposed by Western nations, Russia has embarked on a charm offensive throughout the continent to strengthen ties.
The unannounced visit comes just days after Dmytro Kuleba, the foreign minister of Ukraine, called on African nations to abandon their neutral stance regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine and ended his tour of the continent.
The tour also follows similar trips to South Africa, Eswatini, Angola, and Eritrea in January and Mali, Mauritania, and Sudan a month later.
“Happy to see Minister Lavrov in friendly Kenya,” the Russian Embassy in Nairobi tweeted on Monday.
In order to counter perceived “self-interested” colonial powers like the United Kingdom and the United States, Russia has been eager to restore its former Soviet connections with African states and purchase influence on the continent.
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Russia has expressed interest in increasing commerce with Nairobi over the past few years, but it has had to deal with vast data gaps on the continent as well as entrenched influence from both new countries like China and its longtime foe, the US.
Russia is the fifth-largest consumer of Kenyan tea, however, due to the conflict in Ukraine, Sh1.1 billion less of the country’s beverage exports were sent to Moscow.
Kenya imports goods from Russia including iron and steel, wheat, fertilizers, paper and board, copper, and oil.
Data from UN Comtrade, a repository of international trade statistics, show Kenya’s wheat and meslin imports from Russia were valued at Sh12.6 billion ($106.37 million) in 2021.
Russia is a key market for Kenya’s Fuerte avocado variety, coming second in terms of purchases after the European Union bloc.
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