Uganda is happy with its strong ties with Russia, says Museveni

President Museveni has said Uganda is satisfied with its ties with Russia, especially in relation to cooperation in defence.

In an interview with Russian news outlet TASS Museveni commended Russia for its assistance to Africa in its fight against colonialism noting that since then, the Russians have proved great allies to Uganda.

“Today, we are very satisfied with our cooperation with the Russian Federation .We only had a short break after [Soviet leader Mikhail] Gorbachev. It was an unstable period in Russia, and we did not cooperate then. So we had a very good relationship with the Soviet Union, and now we have a very good relationship with Russia,”Museveni said.

Potential areas of cooperation

According to Museveni, there are new areas in which the two countries can ably cooperate as they take their ties a step further.

"Nowadays, Russia produces plenty of fertilizers. We see the potential in this area, but we have not implemented it yet. We have potential in the area of oil and petrochemicals. The field for action is spacious," he said.

"Among those needs are food, housing, clothing, medicine and mobility (ability to move around), and communication. All of these and many more are human needs. It depends on who deals better with what. And that is how the exchange takes place. We can easily exchange on a wide range of human needs. I can judge by our exports, as we export milk, beef, footwear, coffee, tea, cocoa, tropical fruit and grain that cannot grow in cold countries, and therefore the potential is huge.”

Museveni pointed out that the countries should promote cooperation in healthcare as well, especially against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic.

"We need to foster what is called ‘the pathogen economy’ with Russia. Viruses and parasites cause diseases, but also open up economic opportunities in terms of antiviral and anti-parasitic drugs. The problem turns into an opportunity," he stressed.

Russia-Africa summit

Museveni said he is ready to attend the forthcoming Russia-Africa summit set for July in St. Petersburg.

"I will definitely come to St. Petersburg in July. In this issue, the political will is of crucial importance. It is not an issue of needs, but an issue of ideology. As long as you profess the ideology of equality and brotherhood, the other things are simply details," he said.

Strong ties

The administration in Kampala and their counterparts in Moscow have throughout the years enjoyed strong relations as the East African country is seen to be slowly moving away from the West.

In 2019, President Museveni was among the few African leaders who were invited for the first-ever Russia-Africa summit in the Russian Coastal city of Sochi.

Museveni has against been invited the same summit set for July.

Russian President, Vladmir Putin was among the first world leaders to congratulate Museveni upon re-election as president in January 2021.

Uganda and Russia maintain cooperation in the fields of defence, education, energy, culture, trade and investment.

Uganda’s bilateral trade with Russia has doubled over the last ten years, from $30m (sh112b) in 2009 to over $74m (sh270b) by the end of 2018, much of it in mining and ICT.

Uganda has of recent further showed they cannot break ties with Russia when they(Uganda) abstained from voting to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Defence ties

Uganda and Russia have specifically cooperated in the defence sector.

Uganda has on several occasions purchased Russian made equipment including choppers.

For example last year , the  Defence Web, a South African-based website which monitors military purchases on the continent, last year reported that Uganda  purchased new Mi-28 attack helicopters from Russia.

Last year, President Museveni commissioned a helicopter maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility to refurbish Mi-24 helicopters at Nakosongola Air Base.

 The facility is the only one  in the South of the Sahara and because of this, it will be used to repair, maintain and overhaul Mi-24 choppers not from only Uganda but the region at large since.

This is because many countries in the region use Russian made choppers.