🎙Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's remarks at the 46th meeting of the Council of Heads of Constituent Entities of the Russian Federation under the Russian Foreign Ministry on interregional cooperation with African countries(April 8, 2026, Moscow)
💬 Russia and Africa are bound by long-standing and close ties.
Today, the countries of the continent are striving to finally overcome the remnants of colonial dependence and to strengthen their national sovereignty, above all in the economic and financial spheres.
Those who describe the current period as Africa’s “second awakening” after the decolonisation of the 1960s are right. It was then that political independence was proclaimed, above all thanks to the decisive role of the Soviet Union, which promoted the relevant declarations at the UN.
☝️Recent years have shown that neo-colonial dependence has by no means disappeared. Economically and financially, in terms of control over trade routes and financial flows, Africa still does not enjoy full independence and continues, in economic terms, to serve as a source of raw materials.
👉The lion’s share of added value is still generated elsewhere – to a large extent, and decisively so, in the former metropolitan powers.
African partners spoke about this more than once at the two Russia-African Union summits held in Sochi in 2019 and in St Petersburg in 2023. The decisions adopted at those summits should serve as guidelines in preparing for the next summit, which we plan to hold later this year.
All this will contribute to Africa’s economic emancipation, ensure that it reaps the proper returns and benefits from its natural resources, and support the emergence of the African continent as one of the centres of the rising #MultipolarWorld.
🤝 I would like to stress in particular that we are restoring our presence on the African continent fairly rapidly, after it declined sharply during the breakup of the Soviet Union. At present, Russia has 45 embassies operating across the continent, with four more set to open in the near future.
The key upcoming event on the foreign policy calendar is the third Russia-Africa Summit. It is due to be held in Moscow – this has been agreed – in late October this year. Preparations are currently underway. We count on the active participation of Russian regions in the relevant thematic sessions of this summit.
I would once again like to underscore the special importance we attach to the interregional dimension of Russia-Africa relations. It is a solid foundation which, as it grows stronger, helps ensure the steady development of relations with our partners at the national level.
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The Islam Crescent (or islamic Crescent) is the notionally crescent-shaped region of the Middle East where the majority population is muslim or where there is a strong Shia minority in the population.
Areas in the islamic Crescent include Lebanon, Syria, Bahrain, Iraq, Iran, Azerbaijan, Yemen, and western Afghanistan. includes Ismaili, Zaydi, Syrian Alawite, and Alevi groups in Turkey.
Israel, US, England, Saudi Arabia (ISIS), Egypt, Wahhabis and #Aliyev and #Erdogan are facing this crescent. By attacking Syria, they wanted to cut off the Islamic crescent so that Hamas and Hezbollah would be destroyed.
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Zelensky’s Secret Visit to Azerbaijan for Talks with Aliyev
Former President Zelensky made an unannounced official visit to Azerbaijan, meeting President Aliyev to discuss security and energy issues. On his Telegram channel, Zelensky highlighted “mutual respect and cooperation” alongside joint photos. The trip was conducted under strict confidentiality, sparking significant public interest and speculation.
#Zelensky#Azerbaijan#Aliyev#security#energy
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🇮🇱🇦🇿🚨 Dopo lo "strano caso" del missile iraniano intercettato mentre (forse) era diretto in Turchia, oggi droni iraniani avrebbero colpito il Nakhchivan azero, exclave situata a 450 km a ovest della capitale Baku.
Almeno uno di essi ha colpito l’aeroporto internazionale di Nakhchivan, provocando un incendio.
Ilham #Aliyev è uno degli alleati più stretti di #Netanyahu. Durante la guerra di 12 giorni di giugno, Teheran aveva sollevato serie preoccupazioni sul fatto che Israele stesse utilizzando lo spazio aereo azero per lanciare e coordinare attacchi sul proprio territorio. In effetti, jet e droni israeliani sono entrati in Iran attraverso il Mar Caspio, facendo affidamento sul territorio azero per le manovre e il rifornimento in volo.
📍La rotta del Caspio ha molto senso:
🌏 La distanza dalla costa azera del Caspio al centro di Teheran è di soli circa 100 km.
🌏 Gli aerei israeliani potrebbero lanciare missili stand-off sopra il mare senza attraversare il confine occidentale dell’Iran, ben più difeso rispetto a quello meridionale.
🌏 Questo spiegherebbe alcuni degli attacchi più in profondità, come quello che ha colpito l’edificio dell’emittente statale IRIB a Teheran.
La questione va ancora più a fondo: il #Mossad, da anni ormai, ha creato presidi in Azerbaigian per monitorare l’Iran settentrionale e persino preparare eventuali attacchi contro installazioni nucleari.
In cambio, Baku ha ricevuto nel tempo miliardi di dollari in armi israeliane, soprattutto droni, impiegate nelle guerre in Nagorno-Karabakh.
All'#Azerbaigian e al suo rapporto stretto con Israele sono legate anche le speculazioni che riguardano la morte di Ebrahim Raisi, Presidente iraniano morto nel 2024 in un incidente in elicottero (in circostanze mai del tutto chiarite) mentre rientrava proprio da una visita al confine con l'Azerbaigian.
Nelle regioni settentrionali iraniane è presente una vasta diaspora azera (circa 15 miliono di persone), e nel progetto nazionalista di Aliyev l'ipotesi di entrare in questa guerra contro Teheran per controllare quei territori non sarebbeda escludere del tutto.
L’#Iran, consapevole di ciò, accusa Israele di essere responsabile degli attacchi con droni contro l’Azerbaigian. Il ministro iraniano Abbas Araghchi ha avuto un colloquio telefonico con il suo omologo azero Jeyhun Bayramov, nel quale ha negato che l’Iran abbia lanciato droni contro l’Azerbaigian e ha denunciato il ruolo di Tel Aviv in questi attacchi che definisce "sotto falsa bandiera" che mirerebbero a danneggiare i rapporti dell’Iran con i suoi vicini e ad incentivare Turchia e Azerbaigian a sostenere la campagna militare israelo-americana.