Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with Kenyan officials on Monday for an unannounced visit to Nairobi as Moscow and Kyiv seek to rally African support over the war in Ukraine.
Lavrov’s visit to Kenya follows a trip he made to the African continent last week with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmitry Kuleba.
According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Lavrov told the Kenyan deputies: “During our visit, we will discuss our cooperation in the areas of trade, investment, economy, humanitarian and cultural issues, education, cooperation in the UN and many other issues.”
The flight was not announced in advance and no information was received from Kenyan officials.
Lavrov has visited Africa several times over the past year as world powers jockey for influence in the continent of 1.3 billion people.
For his part, Kuleba last week urged some African countries to abandon their neutral stance on the 15-month war in Ukraine and announced Kyiv’s desire to intensify its relations with the continent.
“We are talking to our African friends and trying to explain to them that neutrality is not a solution,” Koleb said at a press conference on Wednesday in Addis Ababa, the headquarters of the African Union.
In a statement the next day, he announced that Ukraine plans to open more embassies in Africa and host a summit with the continent’s leaders.
In February, 22 of the 54 AU member states abstained or did not vote on a UN General Assembly resolution calling for Russia’s withdrawal from Ukraine.
Two countries, Eritrea and Mali, voted against the resolution.
In turn, Russia is looking for support, especially in Africa, where it is trying to impose itself as an alternative to former colonial powers, especially European ones.
The second Russia-Africa summit of its kind is planned to be held from 26 to 29 July in St. Petersburg.
