Lavrov's 'political' visit to Dhaka for 24 hrs

Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov was supposed to attend the ministerial level meeting of Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) in Dhaka, but eventually didn't attend.

The IORA meeting was held in November 2022. Many were curious over the visit of Sergey Lavrov at the time as Lavrov is an important person in the influential quarter of Russia.

After Russia's involvement in war with Ukraine, he held meetings with top leaders of different countries.

Russia became an observer of IORA recently. Afterwards, Lavrov was scheduled to attend the ministerial level meeting, which surprised many.

A preparation was taken that Sergey Lavrov will make a courtesy call on prime minister Sheikh Hasina. Moscow at the last minute cancelled Lavrov's Dhaka visit for 'unavoidable circumstances'.

Since then, the two countries have been in touch at political levels over the Russian foreign minister’s visit to Bangladesh. After the cancellation of the tour, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told Bangladesh foreign minister AK Abdul Momen over the phone about his wish to visit Bangladesh.

The Russian foreign minister is coming to Bangladesh on 7 September as part of this. He will sit in a bilateral meeting with Bangladesh foreign minister AK Abdul Momen on that very day in the evening.

He is scheduled to pay a courtesy call on prime minister Sheikh Hasina on 8 September. He will leave for Delhi to attend the G-20 summit in the afternoon that day.

Foreign minister AK Abdul Momen, while speaking to newspersons on 30 August, said Sergei Lavrov would come to Dhaka on 7 September. He would pay a courtesy call on prime minister Sheikh Hasina during his visit.

None of the ministers from former Soviet Union, an ally of Bangladesh during the liberation war, has visited Bangladesh so far. This would be the first visit of any Russian foreign minister in Bangladesh. However, the relationship between Dhaka and Moscow continued even after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Diplomatic observers believe Russia is stressing on increasing political affiliation in the international arena after being cornered by the West due to the war with Ukraine.

In this changed geopolitical context, checking on old allies and finding new friends in the international arena is Russia's priority. In that case, they will naturally want Bangladesh, a historically proven friend, by their side.

Russia, who always remains silent on internal affairs of any country, has been vocal on issues about Bangladesh. They have made it clear through the statements from the Russian embassy in Dhaka on Facebook and during the regular press briefings in Moscow.

Russia has no intention to hide the fact that the main reason behind coming out of their long standing diplomatic tradition is the conflict with the US.

Russia has termed the role of European and American politicians over a fair, transparent and peaceful election in Bangladesh as neo-colonialism. Moscow said such initiatives from the West are a ‘shameful intervention’ to a sovereign country’s internal affairs.

However, the main reason behind involving Dhaka in the duel between Washington and Moscow was a US sanction. Russia faced hurdles while unloading equipment for the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant on a ship under the US-embargo. The name of that ship was Sparta-3. Russia changed the name of the ship to Ursa Major and used it for carrying supplies for the Rooppur nuclear power plant.

However, Bangladesh did not allow it anchor in its territory following a diplomatic letter from the US embassy in Dhaka regarding the sanction on the ship carrying goods for the power plant. Russia was forced to unload goods from the ship in a third country. This happened in December last year.

Seeking anonymity, several Bangladeshi diplomats indicated that the Russian foreign minister might raise questions as to why the Russian ship under the US-sanction was not allowed to enter the country in the two meetings he is scheduled to attend during his visit to Bangladesh.

Sources in Dhaka and Moscow said the tour schedule has been more or less finalised after several meetings between the two sides in phases. As per the latest development as of Monday, Sergey Lavrov will reach Dhaka from Zakarta in the afternoon of 7 September.

Foreign minister AK Abdul Momen will receive him at the airport. Later in the evening, the two ministers will sit in a bilateral meeting at a hotel in the city. Later, a dinner will be arranged at the hotel where they will discuss different issues regarding international forums including the United Nations.

The Russian foreign minister will pay homage to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in the capital’s Dhanmondi 32. Then he will pay a courtesy call on prime minister Sheikh Hasina. He is also scheduled to attend a view exchange meeting with the Bangladeshis who studied in Russia during the Soviet era.

The Russia-Ukraine war and subsequent impacts will naturally come up in the discussions during Lavrov’s visit to Bangladesh. Especially, there have been indications from Moscow about holding discussions on the US-embargo on Russia.

The two foreign ministers will discuss strengthening the Dhaka-Moscow relationship, cooperation in the energy sector, defence cooperation and the trade relations between the two countries. Besides, there will be discussion on around 20 pending agreements and Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) between Bangladesh and Russia.

According to diplomatic sources, at least four of the 20 pending agreements and MoUs are defence related including sharing classified information regarding the defence of the two countries, patent  rights in defence technology, cooperation between the defence forces of the two countries and training programmes for the members of armed forces.

It has been learnt that the two countries have been in discussions over at least 15 issues, including extradition, prisoner swap and peaceful utilisation of space.

Former foreign secretary and Bangabandhu chair of Delhi University Shahidul Haque said that Lavrov's visit is significant due to the increasing importance of Bangladesh due to the changing global context and geographical location.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, he said, “Russia’s influence and significance in the international arena has declined due to the Russia-Ukraine war. However, Bangladesh has been a proven friend of Russia since the Soviet era. Now we have to see how Bangladesh highlights the Russian foreign minister’s visit under pressure.”