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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov received a warm welcome in Algeria on Tuesday. Welcomed by President Tebboune, he was able to verify the excellent relations maintained with this gas-producing ally, while a struggle for influence is being played out with Western countries which are trying to find alternative energy sources to following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Algeria, a leading gas exporter, supplies around 11% of the gas consumed in Europe, compared to 47% for Russia.
Algiers abstained when the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a resolution in March demanding that Russia immediately withdraw from Ukraine.
“We very much appreciate Algeria’s thoughtful, objective and balanced position on the Ukrainian issue ,” Lavrov told reporters after meeting his counterpart Ramtane Lamamra and President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
Italy, Spain and other European Union member countries have looked to Algeria to reduce their dependence on Russian oil and gas.
But Algeria, anxious to consolidate its longstanding alliance with Russia, has repeatedly stressed that it does not have the capacity to meet this demand in the short term.
Asked about gas supplies from Algeria, Lavrov said that Russia, Algeria and other gas exportersย “believe that we must respect the agreements that have already been reached”.
Moscow’s top diplomat said trade between the two countries reached $3 billion last year, despite the coronavirus pandemic.
โMany Russian companies are interested in setting up joint ventures with Algerian companies ,โ especially in the energy and pharmaceutical sectors, he said.
Lavrov added that the two sides discussed “strengthening military and technical cooperation”.
His visit is the first since January 2019 and comes as the two countries mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations.
Lavrov also laid a wreath at a memorial for fighters killed in Algeria’s war of independence from France, according to state media.
Asked about the suggestion by the European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, that frozen Russian foreign exchange reserves could be seized to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine after the war, Mr Lavrov denounced “a theft that they don’t even try to hide”.
_”_ย Josep Borrell is famous not only for these words, not only for his ideas in the sphere of confiscation of other people’s property, as you remember, not long ago he said that the Ukrainian crisis should be solved only in a military way. He should not forget the name of his post. He is the chief diplomat and not a military leader of the European Union.”
Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin held telephone talks with his Algerian counterpart on “coordination within OPEC+ as well as the situation in Ukraine” , Russian news agency TASS reported.
OPEC+ is a forum that brings together the OPEC oil cartel and allied producers led by Russia to manage production and prices.