Russia Set to Expand Scope of Cooperation with Chad, Other African Countries — Kremlin

According to Dmitry Peskov, the Russian-Chadian negotiations will first entail meetings between the full delegations of the respective sides, after which the heads of state will continue the dialogue during a working breakfast

MOSCOW, January 24. /TASS/. Russia plans to boost its interaction and cooperation with African countries, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"We are determined to continue expanding our cooperation with African countries," the Kremlin spokesman said.

Peskov noted that Chadian Transitional President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno is currently on an official visit to Russia. "Chad is one of our potential African partners. The range of opportunities of our [bilateral] cooperation is far from being fully tapped; we have plenty of work ahead of us," he pointed out.

According to Peskov, the Russian-Chadian negotiations will first entail meetings between the full delegations of the respective sides, after which Mahamat Deby and Russian President Vladimir Putin will continue the dialogue during a working breakfast.

Peskov also recalled that the Chadian foreign minister had attended last July’s second Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg. The spokesman added that the meeting between the two countries’ leaders is a continuation of those that took place in St. Petersburg during the summit.

According to Peskov, other meetings will take place without press coverage.

Russian-Chadian negotiations

The Kremlin press service reported earlier that the agenda will cover the prospects for further developing Russian-Chadian relations in various fields as well as regional and international issues.

This meeting will be the first between the two leaders. The Chadian president had initially planned to attend the Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg, but his visit was cancelled. Some diplomatic sources told TASS that Chad was put under extreme pressure by the West, and so the country ultimately was compelled to downgrade the degree of its engagement. In addition, a military coup d’etat occurred in neighboring Niger at the same time, and so Mahamat Deby visited the Nigerien capital of Niamey as part of a diplomatic mission. His father, Idriss Deby, who served as president of Chad in 1990-2021, attended the first Russia-Africa summit in 2019 in Sochi.