Lavrov's Presser After Talks with Minister of African Integration and Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Senegal Yasser Fall

This took place 29 August 2024

Talk about Royal Purple!

Lavrov seemed very pleased as he approached the podium to give his statement and field a few questions, and his attire wasn’t as stern as it’s been recently.

Mosque of Divinity, Ouakum, Dakar, Senegal

Senegal’s map has a large slice almost completely bisecting it:

And to its East are the nations of the Sahel. And now for Lavrov:

Ladies and gentlemen,

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

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

We discussed the main areas of bilateral cooperation, paying special attention to trade and economic ties. We agreed to take additional steps to implement promising joint projects in the field of geological exploration, the development of mineral reserves, the development of energy and infrastructure, fisheries, and information and communication technologies.

We plan to use the potential of our business circles. We agreed to speed up the creation of an intergovernmental trade and economic commission.

In July of this year, a permanent chamber of commerce and investment "Africa-Russia-Eurasia" was opened in Dakar. Russia is now one of the largest suppliers of petroleum products to the Senegalese market. Negotiations are underway to supply Senegal with fertilizers, flour and wheat directly. Now such deliveries are carried out through intermediaries, which reduces their efficiency.

We have a good level of cooperation in the humanitarian sphere, including the training of national personnel for Senegal at Russian universities. We have decided to increase the number of scholarships from 75 to 102 places from the next academic year. We see an increased interest of Senegalese youth in learning Russian. In this regard, we agreed to promote the expansion of such opportunities on the basis of educational institutions in Senegal. Now 50 schools in 13 provinces of Senegal teach the Russian language, which is studied by 6600 schoolchildren. This figure is not the limit.

Good experience is associated with the strengthening of contacts between the regions of Russia and Senegal. There are 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 Thiès to Sevastopol, an agreement was signed on cooperation between municipalities in the trade, economic, scientific, technical, social and humanitarian spheres.

We spoke in detail about topical issues on the global and regional agenda. We have the same or similar approaches to most of the key problems of world politics. 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 independently determine the path of their political and socio-economic development.

We cooperate closely at the UN. We are grateful to Senegal for supporting most of Russia's initiatives at the United Nations. We support each other in holding elections to various multilateral structures at the UN. We agreed to continue strengthening foreign policy coordination.

We discussed the situation around Ukraine. Senegal takes a balanced, principled and objective position. We appreciate that. We will continue to inform our Senegalese friends, as well as other representatives of African countries and the Global South and East, about the situation that is unfolding and about our assessments.

We remember that in June of this year, President of Russia Vladimir Putin once again put forward a peace initiative after all previous agreements were destroyed and sabotaged by the Kiev regime and its Western patrons. Our readiness for negotiations should not raise any doubts. Although after the adventure in the Kursk region, some talk on this matter becomes irrelevant.

We also talked about the situation on the African continent, primarily in the Sahara-Sahel region, including the situation in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad. Russia is seriously concerned about the growing terrorist threat in this part of the world. Islamist groups affiliated with the Islamic State and al-Qaeda are gradually but steadily spreading their influence and activity to the countries of West Africa, including Senegal's neighbors. 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 increasing the anti-terrorist readiness of the armed forces and special services.

We believe that the situation in the Sahara-Sahel region should be the subject of agreements between the African countries themselves. We are ready to provide assistance on a bilateral basis, including in increasing the combat capability of the relevant structures to ensure the protection of national territories.

We will continue to develop economic cooperation with our 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 behalf of the heads of state, we will consider the ways, implementation and prospects for solving the problems identified following the summits.

I believe that this will be a very important event. Today's talks were productive, ensuring continuity in our relations and creating additional ground for their further deepening.

Question (retranslated from French): My question is about the development of trade relations between Russia and Senegal. You have given several examples regarding the current situation. In what specific areas do you see these ties can develop? What is the impetus for the development of partnership between Senegal and Russia?

Sergey Lavrov (speaking after J. Fall): We have already discussed this in detail in our opening statements today. I would like to note once again the active negotiations on signing an intergovernmental agreement on the establishment of a bilateral trade and economic commission, as well as the agreement on intensifying the work of the previously established intergovernmental commission on fisheries. A corresponding expedition under the auspices of the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia is sent to African countries in November. We hope that our Senegalese friends will also cooperate in the implementation of this project.

Today we talked about the traditional areas of cooperation: oil and gas, food and fertiliser supplies. It is important to transfer work on these aspects of activity to direct links, without intermediaries.

The field of information and communication technologies is also promising. I would like to note the first experience of Yandex, which organized a taxi company YanGo in Senegal. This is a digital service. There are other opportunities in information and communication technologies. They were discussed in Marrakech in May of this year at a conference of African countries with the invitation of partners on the relevant issues. There is a prospect of involving our experts in the creation of the State Services system in Senegal and other African countries. An Information Security Centre is also being established in the Republic. This is an area where we have accumulated positive experience, both at the national level (within the framework of bilateral relations with many partners) and at the UN, where, on Russia's initiative, work is underway to form norms and principles for ensuring international cybersecurity.

Today we mentioned the creation of the Africa-Russia-Eurasia Chamber of Commerce and Investment in July of this year. This is a promising format for governments to help the business community directly agree on promising projects. As a first step, a Russian-Senegalese business forum will be held in Dakar in October of this year, in which many of our major companies are gathering.

Our agenda is concrete and promising.

Question: Are today's meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels and the discussion of the next arms supplies to Kiev and the possibility of striking at Russian territory just another method of intimidating Russia? Or do the countries of the "collective West" no longer have any restrictions and stop lines?

Sergey Lavrov: We are following the development of discussions and practical actions in the NATO camp on the Ukrainian issue.

Some of our reviewers are sometimes tempted to present all this as the embodiment of the "tail wags the dog" scheme. They say that Vladimir Zelensky is constantly demanding something, and Western governments want to help this Nazi regime – some sincerely, and some through force, realising that the popularity of all these actions among the voters of the respective countries is approaching zero. This is not quite the correct explanation of what is happening.

Vladimir Zelensky "does not wag this dog." This "dog" in the form of a coalition of almost all European countries and their allies in other parts of the world (there are about 50 of them in total) seriously intended to carry out the instructions of the "senior comrade" - to inflict a "strategic defeat" on Russia. This is recorded in their doctrinal documents. They repeat this daily, weekly at various meetings, and each time they pump Ukraine with more and more modern weapons. Now there is a discussion about how to use these weapons.

I want to say only one thing. This is not because Vladimir Zelensky has already "tired" them all, and "whatever the child is amused with, as long as he does not cry." This is a continuation of the line that we have been observing for centuries and about which our emperors said that what reliable allies we have in this world. It was implemented by Napoleon, then by Adolf Hitler, who put almost all of Europe under arms. It is not for nothing that the discussion about the complicity in the crimes of Nazism not only of the Germans, but also of representatives of many other European nations, who were not just put "under arms", but gladly carried out the orders of the Third Reich, has resumed in Russian historical circles. This is a serious topic. And the fact that now practically the same countries have united against us under the same banners of Nazism suggests that the West, led by the United States and Britain, is obsessed with the task of hindering our development.

When President Vladimir Putin spoke at the Russian Foreign Ministry on June 14, he said: "The goals of this policy are already openly declared by some figures in the United States and Europe. Today they are talking about the notorious decolonization of Russia. In fact, this is an attempt to provide an ideological basis for the dismemberment of our Fatherland on a national basis. In fact, the dismemberment of the Soviet Union and Russia has been discussed for a long time." I take this very seriously.

As for whether they still have "stop lines", I don't know. At least, the political science and analytical materials that they publish constantly promote the goal of moving forward by half a meter, by a meter, those actions that are obviously oriented (in their terminology) to escalate the situation.

I am convinced that these plans are doomed to failure. They are doing this for the sake of geopolitical, selfish plans, to continue the policy of maintaining their dominance and hegemony.

We have justice and Russia's legitimate interests on our side. We have the UN Charter on our side, which in its very first chapter demands respect for human rights, including the right to one's native language and religion. This was trampled on without any reaction from the West. Like many other principles of international law, about which he prefers to remain silent. This leads me to the conclusion (I have already done it) that all this is a strategic goal that the "collective West" has set for itself.

This makes our principled line and our victory all the more important not only for upholding the legitimate interests of the Russian Federation, but also for protecting the world order, which will meet the interests of all and be based on the key principle of the UN Charter – the sovereign equality of states, and not the whims of the "golden billion", which considers itself entitled to lead everything and everything in the world: from Ukraine to the South China Sea. in Africa, Latin America and other regions of the world. That era is over. This is painful for the West. He wants to make this process painful for everyone else in the illusory hope of somehow delaying the end of the neocolonial era. [My Emphasis]

Russia’s African policy continues to broaden and deepen as almost every African nation is still trying to become 100% decolonized, which seems hardest for the former French colonies because of the financial chains imposed on the initial comprador governments that were installed to ensure the basics of colonialism didn’t disappear. More direct ties with Russia and the institutions of the Global Majority are musts for Senegal and Africa as a whole. Unmentioned by Lavrov but in the works is a BRICS Commodity Exchange aimed at removing pricing hegemony from the Outlaw US Empire while also dedollarizing it and would also likely lower prices. More trade forums in Africa and Eurasia will help accelerate development. An article in tomorrow’s Global Times, “China-Africa closer cooperation driven by real needs of continent,” provides some insight into the overall situation there as Russia faces similar Western interference. In many respects within the article, you can replace China with Russia as their African policies are almost identical.

In his closing answer, Lavrov’s correct that Zelensky isn’t wagging the dog. All the evidence compiled over the years shows the West using smaller ethnicities as proxies to attack Russia. In Ukraine’s case, the new Ukrainian ethnicity was created by Austro-Hungarian and Polish elites then aided greatly by German and American Nazis. IMO, the “protecting the world order” is going to be said more often as we approach the UNGA Debates in September for that’s the reality of the Big Picture. Lavrov said essentially that he expects the employment of longer-range missiles whose use will be directed 100% by NATO hiding behind Zelensky’s skirts. Russia will certainly respond, the only question being in what manner.

The refurbished Russian economy and those of its neighbors are all doing very well. Next week will welcome the Eastern Economic Forum where Putin will likely make an appearance. And China’s 2024 Summit of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation talked about in the above link also opens next week: the dates of the two are staggered so both can be attended.

*
*
*
Like what you’ve been reading at Karlof1’s Substack? Then please consider subscribing and choosing to make a monthly/yearly pledge to enable my efforts in this challenging realm. Thank You!