Moscow and Khartoum have reached an understanding on a Russian naval base in the Red Sea, Port Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ali Yousef al-Sharif announced on Wednesday, following talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow.
Following talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow, the Sudanese minister said in response to a question about the status of the agreement and whether there are any obstacles: “We are in full agreement on this issue, there are no obstacles. There are no obstacles, we are in full agreement.”
Moscow announced a draft agreement with Khartoum to establish a logistics center for the Russian fleet on the Sudanese coast in the Red Sea.
The project stipulates that Khartoum agrees to establish and deploy a Russian logistics center on its territory, develop its infrastructure and modernize it to allow maintenance, supply and rest for Russian warships and their crews. The center would be located near Port Sudan port, capable of accommodating up to 300 military and civilian personnel.
Official sources revealed to Al-Sharq on Tuesday details of a draft Sudanese Russian agreement granting Russia a military technical and logistical support center in Port Sudan on the Red Sea.
The Sudanese foreign minister referred to Russia’s “strong” stance by using its veto power at the UN Security Council last November against a British draft resolution aimed at “interfering in Sudan’s internal affairs, the first time a veto was used on an issue related to Sudan.”
Russian concern:
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia is concerned about developments in Sudan and is ready to help settle the situation in the country.
TASS quoted Lavrov as saying: “Of course, as good friends, we are concerned about the dramatic events unfolding in Sudan these days,” he said, stressing that” Moscow, along with other international powers, would like to help stabilize the situation.”
Speaking to his Sudanese counterpart, Lavrov added: “I would be grateful for your assessment of what is going on and your vision of possible further steps in the interest of facilitating a peace settlement as soon as possible.”
According to the Russian foreign minister, the Moscow talks provide “a good opportunity to discuss other regional and international issues and, most importantly, issues of bilateral cooperation, the full resumption of which certainly depends on security conditions.”
Relations with Sudan:
“Sudan is our long-standing partner in Africa. We have maintained traditionally good and friendly relations. We have established a political dialog that takes place at regular intervals. There is a lot of positive potential to strengthen mutual relations and develop mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields,” Lavrov said.
He emphasized that the meeting with his Sudanese counterpart was “an opportunity to fully resume our bilateral cooperation. This depends on the security conditions. Everything is interconnected in this regard.”
In response to a question from Al-Sharq about cooperation between Russia and Africa, Lavrov said that Moscow is looking and finding ways to cooperate with Africa despite the sanctions.
“In most cases, we look for and find opportunities to continue our mutually beneficial cooperation with the countries of Africa and other continents, without relying on these criminal, unilateral and illegal actions of the West,” he said.
Lavrov added that there are ways to develop cooperation, noting that Western sanctions do not help anyone in the world to develop economic relations; sanctions also harm the countries that impose them, citing “the European Union’s preparation of the sixteenth package of sanctions in light of the unfortunate economic consequences and the sharp rise in energy prices.”
