Kenya's Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi said on Monday that Nairobi and Moscow have agreed Kenyan citizens will no longer fight on Russia's side in the war in Ukraine, Reuters reported. Kenya's top diplomat held talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, BTA reported.
Kenya's foreign minister said that talks with Lavrov focused on "the welfare of Kenyan citizens in Russia, especially those taking part in special military operation". "I want to state unequivocally that during the discussions we agreed that Kenyans will no longer be recruited for military service through the Russian Ministry of Defense. They will no longer meet the conditions for enlistment in the army and this practice will stop", the Kenyan Foreign Minister stressed.
He specified that for Kenyan citizens who need assistance through direct diplomatic channels, appropriate consular services will be organized.
"We do not want our partnership with Russia to be defined by the perspective of the special military operation for any reason. "Relations between Kenya and Russia are much broader," Mudavadi added.
For his part, Sergey Lavrov noted that Kenyan citizens have voluntarily signed contracts to fight in the Russian army.
According to a report by Kenyan intelligence services published last month, more than 1,000 Kenyans have been recruited to fight on the side of Russia in the war in Ukraine, a number five times higher than the authorities' initial estimate.
The Russian foreign minister said at a press conference after the talks that Russia and Kenya see nuclear energy as a promising direction for the development of their bilateral relations.
"We expressed a mutual desire to expand bilateral projects with a practical focus. "We have identified energy, including nuclear energy, telecommunications, agriculture, geological exploration, mineral extraction, high technologies, as well as space programs as promising areas of our bilateral cooperation," Lavrov emphasized.