Russia‘s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says unlike the United State of America, his country will not interfere in elections in Zimbabwe or anywhere else.
Lavrov concluded his visit to Harare where he met President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his counterpart, Major General Sibusiso Moyo.
Following the visit, Zimbabwe has escalated Russia from Visa category C to B to encourage more Russians to visit that country.
With Zimbabweans heading to the polls soon Lavrov’s visit to Harare has raised eyebrows – as talk of Russian interference in US elections still rife.
“The New York Times published a piece on decades of us … where the US said it was to bring democracy and liberty, we do not share this philosophy at all and we are never going to do anything like that it is up to the people of Zimbabwe and all other countries to decide their future,” said Lavrov.
His Zimbabwean counterpart is himself a controversial figure, he announced the resignation of former President Robert Mugabe in army uniform in November. Now he’s Minister of Foreign Affairs.
“The visit by my colleague Mr Lavrov has escalated the level of bilateral relations between our two great nations to combine both economic and political and in particular you are aware that we have got an intergovernmental commission which exists between our two nations, we are also going to be increasing the tourism inflow of Russians into Zimbabwe and for that reason we have increased changed the category c to category B,” said Moyo
Lavrov’s next stop is Ethiopia, where US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was also visiting.
