Acting Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s remarks and answers to questions during a joint news conference with Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of Sierra Leone Timothy Kabba following talks, Moscow, May 7, 2024

We conducted substantive Russia-Sierra Leone talks. We share the view that today’s meeting was timely and confirms our mutual striving to continue strengthening the traditionally friendly bilateral relations on the principles of equality and mutual respect.

We discussed promising areas of our bilateral interaction, paying special attention to the projects on energy and mineral extraction that are now being discussed by the relevant departments. Our friends are interested in promoting cooperation in healthcare. The Russian Federation has a rich experience of interacting with African countries, including West Africa in countering infectious diseases and cooperating between sanitary and epidemiological services. We are in a position to pay attention to the issues raised by our friends from Sierra Leone.

We agreed to continue working on expanding our contractual and legal framework. Talks are underway on several important documents. I am sure that we will soon complete our work on them. Our colleagues also expressed interest in attracting Russian investors to the economy of Sierra Leone with a view to implementing mutually beneficial projects.

By tradition, we are giving priority to the humanitarian area. Many Sierra Leoneans studied and continue to study in our country (first, in the USSR and now  in the Russian Federation). We confirmed our readiness to increase the number of scholarships that the Russian Government grants Sierra Leone every year.

Foreign policy interaction of Russia and Sierra Leone has good long-term traditions. Our foreign ministries have held consultations on urgent regional and international issues, including UN activities under the protocol that entered in force in 2002.

In 2024-2025, Sierra Leone is a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. The first months of this year gave us one more opportunity to see that we have close or identical positions on key issues facing the universal Organisation. Today, we agreed to coordinate our actions in the UN as a whole and its Security Council, in particular. In July, Russia will chair the Security Council and in August we will give the baton to our friends from Sierra Leone.

We discussed the situation in the Sahara-Sahel region, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad. We would like West African countries to remain motivated to preserve their sovereignty and interests in their communication with the external world. We favour the removal of the vestiges of colonialism and neocolonialism. You can still feel them in the presence of some former metropolitan states in Africa. Today, we had a frank conversation on this issue.

We are interested in the implementation of the African Solutions − for African Problems principle. There are many conflicts and crises in Africa. Sometimes, offering help, external players pursue primarily their own interests that do not meet aspirations of Africans. We would like the African Union and other sub-regional organisations to take the main initiative. The international community should support the decisions made by Africans. This is our firm position.

We discussed the reform of the UN Security Council in the same vein. We believe its main goal is to remove the historical injustice and expand the representation of Africa, Asia and Latin America in this main body, which is in charge of the issues of international peace and security.

We maintain good cooperation on implementing the agreements reached during the two Russia-Africa summits. In accordance with a decision of the St Petersburg Summit in July 2023, the Russia-African Union foreign ministers will hold their first meeting next November. We hope that our friends will be represented at the proper level.

We confirmed our gratitude for Sierra Leone’s position of principle on the issues related to the situation around Ukraine. It developed because of the hybrid war that the West was preparing for a long time with a view to weakening our country, creating threats to its security and depriving millions of Russian speakers in Crimea and Donbass of their lawful rights. The Ukrainian authorities and their Western patrons subverted the agreements reached with Western participation in the past eight years. None of them have been carried out. This led to the start of the special military operation. We are grateful to our African friends, in part Sierra Leone, for their well-balanced position and understanding of the reasons that had brought about the current situation. I am pleased about today’s negotiations.

Question: Does the Foreign Ministry plan to open new diplomatic missions in African countries in 2024, including the Russian Embassy in Sierra Leone?

Sergey Lavrov: We are going to open new diplomatic offices in Africa, including Freetown before the end of 2024. We have adopted all required decisions and it remains to fulfil them. We are working on this in practical terms.

Question: Мany West African countries signed agreements on building nuclear power plants with the Rosatom State Corporation. Is Freetown considering this option for resolving its electricity problems?

Sergey Lavrov (adds after Timothy Kabba): We agreed with the Minister that relevant departments of Sierra Leone Government will formulate additional wishes for Russian investors in various areas, including possible cooperation on nuclear power engineering and non-energy uses of nuclear power. They will send us such proposals. We will definitely organise an interdepartmental study. It won’t take much time. I think you will soon learn about its results.