The Russian Foreign Ministry reported that Deputy Minister Sergey Vershinin held a telephone conversation with the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for the Sahara, Staffan de Mistura, which focused on international efforts to advance a settlement of the Sahara issue in light of the adoption by the UN Security Council of Resolution 2797 on October 31.
According to a statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry, the Russian side affirmed during the call its support for the leading role of the United Nations in reaching a solution acceptable to both parties, based on previously adopted Security Council resolutions, and within the framework of the principles and objectives set forth in the Charter of the United Nations, including the right to self-determination.
The Russian Federation abstained from voting in favor of the UN resolution, a position that reflects Moscow’s adherence to a neutral stance towards the conflict in the Moroccan Sahara, while at the same time supporting UN initiatives in accordance with international law and the principles of consensus between the parties.
In the same context, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Living Abroad, Nasser Bourita, revealed that King Mohammed VI had made several direct contacts five or six days before the vote on the resolution, which enabled the resolution to be decided in favor of the Moroccan proposal, “in light of the most complex composition of the Security Council,” noting that “Russia’s abstention from voting came as a culmination of ‘the King’s Morocco’ and its neutral approach in the Ukraine war file.”
Bourita explained, in his remarks following the announcement of the decision, that the King adopted a “diplomacy of ‘reason and action’ in this matter, with a precise understanding of international balances and changes, adding that “his previous visits to China and Russia were a key factor in this success,” and stressing that the Russian vote is consistent with Morocco’s interests and its diplomatic position on the international stage.
