Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s statement and answers to media questions following talks with Minister of African Integration and Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Senegal Yassine Fall, Moscow, August 29, 2024

Ladies and gentlemen,

We have had useful and productive talks with the Minister of African Integration and Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Senegal, Yassine Fall. We agreed that today’s meeting is yet another confirmation of Moscow’s and Dakar’s firm commitment to strengthening traditionally friendly relations between our countries based on the principles of equality and mutual respect.

We expressed satisfaction with the policy pursued by the new Senegalese leadership and personally President of the Republic of Senegal Bassirou Diomaye Faye on further building mutually beneficial ties with Russia, despite the well-known attempts of pressure from certain states pursuing the illusory goal of isolating our country, including from our long-standing, loyal friends, with whom we are linked by our joint struggle for justice in international relations.

We discussed the main areas of bilateral cooperation, focusing on trade and economic ties. We agreed to take additional steps to implement promising joint projects in geological prospecting, development of mineral resources, energy and infrastructure, fisheries, information and communication technologies.

We are set to utilise our business communities’ potential. We have agreed to speed up the establishment of an intergovernmental trade and economic commission.

In July of this year, a permanent trade and investment chamber, Africa-Russia-Eurasia, started operating in Dakar. Russia is now one of the largest suppliers of oil products to Senegal’s market. Negotiations are underway to supply Senegal with fertiliser, flour and wheat directly. At the moment, such supplies are made through intermediaries, which makes them less effective.

We have a good level of co-operation in the humanitarian sphere, including the training of national personnel for Senegal at Russian universities. We have decided to increase the number of scholarships available to Senegalese students from 75 to 102 as of the next academic year. We see an increased interest among Senegalese young people in learning the Russian language. In this regard, we have agreed to promote the expansion of such opportunities on the basis of Senegalese educational institutions. Now 50 schools in 13 provinces of Senegal teach the Russian language, which is studied by 6,600 schoolchildren. This figure may grow in the future.

There is good experience in strengthening contacts between the regions of Russia and Senegal. There are relevant developments in relation to Tatarstan. There is a cooperation agreement between the cities of Tver and Saint-Louis. In July of this year, following the visit of a delegation from the city of Thies to Sevastopol, an agreement was signed on cooperation between the municipalities in trade, economy, science, technology, social and humanitarian spheres.

We have spoken quite thoroughly on key issues on the global and regional agendas. We have converging or close positions on most of them. Russia and Senegal are committed to the basic principles of international law, including the sovereign equality of states, non-interference in their internal affairs, and respect for the right of peoples to determine their own political, social and economic development.

We are co-operating closely at the United Nations. We are grateful to Senegal for its support for most Russian initiatives at the UN. We support each other’s candidates in UN elections to various multilateral structures. We agreed to continue to strengthen foreign policy coordination.

We discussed the situation in and around Ukraine. Senegal holds a balanced, principled and objective position. We appreciate this. We will continue to inform our Senegalese friends, as well as other representatives of countries in Africa and the Global South and East, about further developments, and our relevant assessments.

We remember that Russian President Vladimir Putin once again advanced a peace initiative in June of this year, after all previous agreements were destroyed and sabotaged by the Kiev regime and its Western patrons. Our openness to negotiations should not be doubted by anyone. Although after Kiev’s venture in the Kursk region, any talk of this becomes irrelevant.

We also discussed the developments in the African continent, above all in the Sahara-Sahel region, including the situation in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad. Russia is seriously concerned about the growing threat of terrorism in that part of the world. Islamist groups affiliated with the Islamic State and al-Qaeda are gradually and steadily spreading their influence and activities to West African countries, including Senegal’s neighbours. We have a common interest in joining efforts to combat these threats. Russia is ready to assist Senegal and other African states in strengthening their defence capabilities and improving the anti-terrorist readiness of their armed forces and special services.

We are in favour of making the situation in the Sahara-Sahel region the subject of agreements by African countries themselves. We are ready to provide assistance on a bilateral basis, including in enhancing the combat effectiveness of the relevant forces to ensure the defence of national territories.

We will continue to promote economic co-operation with African friends in accordance with the decisions of the two Russia-Africa summits held in Sochi in 2019 and in St Petersburg in 2023. This year, the first Russia-Africa Ministerial Conference will be held in Sochi in November. On the instructions of the heads of state, we will consider ways, progress and prospects for solutions to the problems identified as a result of the summits.

I believe that this will be a very important event. I am grateful to the Minister for confirming her participation in it. Today’s talks were productive, providing continuity in our relations and laying additional ground for their further deepening. 

Question (retranslated from French): I have a question about trade relations between Russia and Senegal. You cited several examples describing the current state of affairs. What are the specific areas where these relations can be expanded? What can boost partnership relations between Senegal and Russia?

Sergey Lavrov (speaking after Yassine Fall): We addressed this matter in detail in our opening remarks. I will once again highlight the ongoing talks to sign an intergovernmental agreement seeking to establish a bilateral trade and economic commission, and today’s agreement to step up the activities of the earlier established intergovernmental commission on fisheries. A corresponding expedition sponsored by the Russian Ministry of Agriculture will visit African countries in November. We hope our Senegalese friends will take part in implementing this project.

Today, we discussed oil and gas, food, and fertiliser supplies which are traditional areas of cooperation. It is important to shift efforts concerning these aspects to direct connections and cut out intermediaries.

The ICT sector holds a lot of promise as well. Yandex set up a taxicab service company YanGo in Senegal, its first digital service in that country. There are other opportunities in the ICT sector as well which were discussed in Marrakesh this past May at a conference of African countries with the participation of our partners from this sector. Our experts may be involved in creating an e-government system in Senegal and other African countries. An Information Security Centre is being established in the republic as well. We have a positive track record in this sphere, both at the national level (as part of our bilateral relations with numerous partners) and within the UN where, at Russia’s initiative, work is underway to draft standards and principles underlying international cybersecurity.

Today, we mentioned the fact of establishing the Africa-Russia-Eurasia trade and investment chamber in July which is a promising format for governments to help business circles directly discuss promising projects. As a first step, a Russia-Senegal business forum will take place in Dakar this October, and many of our major companies plan to participate.

Our agenda is specific and holds a lot of promise.

Question: Is today’s meeting of the EU foreign ministers in Brussels, and the discussion involving additional arms supplies to Kiev and the possibility of delivering strikes on Russian territory yet another way to intimidate Russia? Or has the collective West tossed away every restriction and red line there ever was?

Sergey Lavrov: We are keeping an eye on NATO discussions and practical moves regarding Ukraine.

Some of our observers are occasionally tempted to dress it all up as the tail wagging the dog scenario. They claim Zelensky never stops demanding things, and Western governments are willing to help this Nazi regime. Some are doing so willingly, while others force themselves into doing it realising that the popularity of these actions among voters in the respective countries is nearing zero. This is not a completely accurate representation of what is going on.

Zelensky is not wagging that dog which in the form of a coalition of almost all European countries and their allies in other parts of the world (about 50 countries in all) are earnestly determined to fulfill the instruction of their “senior partner” to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia which they have in writing in their doctrinal documents. They keep saying this daily and weekly at various meetings, and keep flooding Ukraine with advanced weapons. They are now having a discussion about how to go about using these weapons.

I’m here to tell you one thing. This is not because they are tired of Zelensky and would do anything to humour him. This is continuing the policy that we have observed for centuries and that Russian emperors spoke about when they mentioned Russia’s reliable allies in this world. Napoleon pursued this policy first, followed by Adolf Hitler, who mobilised almost all of Europe. There is a reason for the Russian historical circles resuming discussions about not only Germany, but many other European nations as well participating in the crimes committed by Nazis. These people were not just called up, but willingly carried out the orders issued by the Third Reich. This is a serious matter. The fact that nearly the same countries have now united against us under the same Nazi banners shows that the West led by the United States and Britain is obsessed with hindering our development.

When President Putin spoke at the Foreign Ministry on June 14, he had the following to say: “Some figures in the United States and Europe openly declare the goals of this policy, speaking today about the so-called decolonisation of Russia. Essentially, this is an attempt to ideologically justify the division of our Fatherland along ethnic lines. The dismemberment of the Soviet Union and Russia has been a discussion topic for a long time.” I take this very seriously.

I’m not sure whether they still have any red lines left. At least, the political and analytical materials that they publish keep touting the goal of moving forward incrementally in order to (using their terminology) escalate the situation.

I’m convinced these plans are doomed. They are doing so to advance their geopolitical and selfish designs in order to perpetuate their policy of keeping their dominance and hegemony unchanged.

We have on our side justice and Russia’s legitimate interests, as well as the UN Charter, which in its opening chapter requires respect for human rights, including the right to one’s native language and religion. This, as well as multiple other principles of international law that the West prefers to remain silent about, was trampled upon with the West remaining nonchalant as if nothing happened. This leads me to conclude that all of that is a strategic goal that the collective West has set for itself.

This makes our principled stance and our victory all the more important, not only to uphold the legitimate interests of the Russian Federation, but also to protect the world order that will serve the interests of all and rely on the key principle of the UN Charter which is the sovereign equality of states, rather than the tantrums thrown by the golden billion, who consider themselves entitled to rule everything and everyone from Ukraine to the South China Sea, in Africa, Latin America, and other regions of the world. This era is gone which fact pains the West. It strives to make this process painful for everyone else in an illusory hope of pushing back the last hours of the neocolonial era.