Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will visit several Latin American countries from April 17 through 21, the Russian foreign ministry said on Sunday.
"From April 17 to 21, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will visit several Latin American countries, including Brazil, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba. The Russian foreign minister will have a rich program, which will include meetings with these countries’ leaders and talks with the foreign ministers," it said.
According to the ministry, the key goal of Lavrov’s tour is to strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation between the countries in the political, trade-and-economic, educational, humanitarian, cultural, and other spheres.
"The talks are planned to focus on issues of strengthening the legal framework of the present-day world, which is based on the United Nations Charter," the ministry said. "Latin America is a friendly region, one of the centers of the formation of a multipolar world and Russian plans to maintain a dynamic dialogue with it, develop constructive cooperation free from any dictation from the outside.".
Russian delegation to visit Brazil, Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua in April, says Lavrov
A Russian delegation will visit Brazil, Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua in the second half of April, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday.
In his article entitled ‘Russia and Latin America: Future-Oriented Partnership and Cooperation’ published on the Russian Foreign Ministry's website, the top Russian diplomat noted that Russia favored strengthening cooperation with Latin American countries "on the basis of mutual support, solidarity and consideration of each other's interests".
"It is in this vein, in the spirit of strategic partnership, that our relations develop with many countries of the region, including Brazil, Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, which our delegation will visit in the second half of April," the top diplomat noted.
Lavrov also pointed to the readiness of the Russian side "to build up diversified contacts at the level of heads of states and governments, parliaments, diplomatic services, other ministries and departments." "We are open for expanding cooperation on a multilateral basis, especially within the framework of the dialogue between Russia and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States," he added.
In addition, Lavrov drew attention to the expansion of the legal framework between Russia and Latin American countries in recent years. "This concerns, in particular, the creation of a space of mutual visa-free travel. Now it covers 27 states of Latin America and the Caribbean. All of South America and almost all of Central America have become visa-free for our citizens," the top diplomat concluded.
Lavrov's article was translated into Portuguese for the Brazilian newspaper Folha and into Spanish for the Mexican magazine Buzos.
Russia is forging closer ties with Latin America
As part of efforts to temper sanctions imposed after the invasion of Ukraine, Russia is building closer ties with Latin American countries.
Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov (pictured), will visit Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, and stay in Brazil on April 17 and 18.
"The rapidly changing geopolitical landscape opens new opportunities for the development of mutually beneficial cooperation between Russia and the states of Latin America. Countries in this region are playing an increasingly important role in a multipolar world order," Lavrov wrote in a column published by Folha de S. Paulo and Mexican magazine Buzos.
"In Russian foreign policy, Latin America and the Caribbean [LAC] occupy a priority position," he added. "Despite the sanctions imposed on Russia by the US and EU, our total exports to LAC countries grew by 3.8% last year. In 2022, Russia increased wheat exports to Latin America and the Caribbean by 48.8%," Lavrov wrote.
Latin America is generally open to initiatives by countries other than the US.
"In historical terms, even due to its geographic proximity, Latin America has always generated a lot of attention from the US, but in the last 10, 20 years, the region has completely ceased to be a priority for the US, opening up room for the increased influence of other countries in the region," Tulio Cariello told, research director of the China-Brazil Business Council.
The Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, showed Putin his support in his confrontation with the West by visiting Russia in December 2022, and he also condemned the arrest warrant issued against the head of the Kremlin by the International Criminal Court.
Recently, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, and the head of the largest Russian oil company, Igor Sechin, traveled to the Island.
At the beginning of the month, Russian President Vladimir Putin invited his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, to Moscow upon receiving a visit from the special adviser for International Affairs of the Brazilian Presidency, Celso Amorim.
Subsequently, Lula said that during his visit to Beijing he will propose to the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, to promote dialogue to restore peace between Russia and Ukraine.
The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Madurdo, offered Putin “all my support” since the beginning of the Russian military campaign in Ukraine in February 2022.
On March 14, Russia and Venezuela celebrated the 78th anniversary of their diplomatic relations, ties that were strengthened with the arrival of the so-called Bolivarian revolution in 1999.
At the end of March, the Nicaraguan Foreign Minister, Denis Moncada, met with Lavrov and defended Moscow’s right to guarantee its “integrity and security.”
Lavrov also decorated Laureano Ortega Murillo, son of the Nicaraguan president, Daniel Ortega, with the Order of Friendship.
In the new Russian foreign policy, marked by the growing political, military and economic antagonism toward the West over Ukraine, Latin America is one of the priority regions.
In that sense, Lavrov’s tour is part of Lavrov’s recent trips to twenty countries in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, from the Maghreb to the Sahel and the south.
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