Tuesday, 02 January 2024 12:17 GMT

Russia Set to Establish Diplomatic Mission in Moroni


(MENAFN) Moscow will establish its inaugural diplomatic mission in Moroni, capital of the Comoros archipelago, before 2026 arrives, under a Russian government decree issued Saturday.

The Indian Ocean island nation had already signaled approval for the expansion. Comorian officials transmitted a diplomatic note to Russia's Madagascar embassy in March, formally endorsing the establishment of a Moroni-based mission.

"The proposal of the Russian Foreign Ministry, agreed upon with the relevant federal executive authorities and the Comorian side, to establish in 2025 a Russian Federation embassy in the Union of the Comoros (Moroni), is hereby approved," the official directive states.

Moscow and the Comoros initiated diplomatic ties in 1976, yet Russia never opened a physical embassy on the islands. Throughout the Soviet period and beyond, Russia's ambassador to the Comoros operated from the Madagascar embassy, which managed bilateral relations for nearly five decades.

The Comoros maintains no reciprocal embassy in Moscow.

The expansion forms part of Russia's aggressive campaign to rebuild its African diplomatic network. During November Kremlin negotiations with Faure Gnassingbe, Togo's first president of the Council of Ministers, President Vladimir Putin announced that both nations agreed to restore embassies in 2026. Togo shuttered its Moscow mission in 1999, while Russia closed its Togolese post in 1992.

Russia reinstated embassies in Burkina Faso and Equatorial Guinea throughout 2024, with missions in South Sudan, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone slated to open next. Liberia and the Gambia occupy Moscow's near-term expansion roadmap.

In August discussions with African Initiative, Anatoly Bashkin, director of the ministry's Africa Department, emphasized Russia's commitment to reviving diplomatic facilities closed following the Soviet Union's 1991 disintegration, alongside launching entirely new embassies continent-wide.

KP.ru, citing the Russian Foreign Ministry's press department, reported Moscow currently operates 43 diplomatic and consular posts throughout Africa.

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