Moscow considers that there is room for renewing cooperation with Sao Tome and Principe in various fields at the moment, a message conveyed Wednesday by Russia’s ambassador to the African country to Prime Minister Patrice Trovoda.
“I saw a very favorable atmosphere for us to cooperate to our mutual advantage, because there is no cooperation just for one side, it has to be mutually advantageous,” said Ambassador Vladimir Tamarov to Lusa at the end of a meeting with Patrice Trovoada in the São Toméan capital.
The diplomat revealed that Moscow has decided to increase from five to 20 the allocation of scholarships to São Tomense, in an act that shows one of the aspects of cooperation.
Vladimir Tamarov said he spoke with the head of the São Tomé and Príncipe government of “projects that are being planned,” without specifying, whose realization “will require a certain skill on both sides.”
“Russia is willing — I have been here for six years and have stressed it on different occasions — and I think we can renew cooperation in various fields,” he repeated.
Asked if the issue of Russia’s war with Ukraine had been addressed at the meeting, the diplomat said that the end of the conflict “is not a concern of Sao Tome and Principe but a concern of all countries” and that the Prime Minister of Sao Tome has a position of neutrality, which is also that of the San Tomeans, in general.
Repeating the Kremlin’s messages, the Russian diplomat went back to the March 2022 negotiations between delegations of the two countries in conflict, under the auspices of Turkey, to state that “influential Western leaders influenced Ukraine not to accept the conditions” that had been established.
“We all agree that this conflict has negative repercussions for the world,” but, he charged, “not only Russia has responsibility, not only Ukraine has responsibility, there are countries interested in prolonging this conflict.”