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Meeting with President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe

May 10, 2015, The Kremlin, Moscow

Vladimir Putin met with President of Zimbabwe and Chairman of the African Union Robert Mugabe.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President, colleagues, friends, let me wish you a warm welcome to Moscow.

It makes me very happy that you accepted our invitation to come to Moscow to take part in celebrating the 70th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. I am pleased to have this opportunity to discuss our bilateral relations and the development of Russia’s relations with the entire African continent, seeing as you are currently also the Chairman of the African Union.

As you know, we have traditionally had very good relations and have built up what really is an alliance relationship with many countries in Africa. We therefore are always looking to continue developing our relations on new foundations, adapting them to today’s demands while at the same time making full use of the positive legacy from the past.

Thank you very much for your visit, Mr President.

President of Zimbabwe and Chairman of the African Union Robert Mugabe (retranslated): Mr President, thank you for giving us this opportunity to meet. I want to say thank you above all for sending us the invitation to attend the [Victory Day] Parade.

The victory over Nazism and fascism was our shared victory. Military units from Africa also took part in the war. Sadly, the soldiers who fought first Nazism and fascism and then Japanese militarism alongside the Soviet Union went on to become Africa’s oppressors. The fact is that although they fought Nazism and fascism, they had not stopped being colonisers.

We later had to lead our own fight against British imperialism and against the Apartheid system in South Africa. We needed support to reach our goals, and the support we received from the Soviet Union and China made a big contribution to helping us achieve our liberation.

When our country celebrated its independence in 1980, we paid tribute to the support of the Soviet Union and China, who helped us in our liberation.

The Soviet Union broke up, it is true, but Russia has continued. Russia, which was the core of the Soviet Union, has stood firm against the pressure from the United States and Europe, which have imposed sanctions on your country.

We in our time also fought British imperialism and we had to take our land back from the British farmers. When we were successful in this effort, the United States, Europe and Britain imposed sanctions on us.

You are fighting sanctions now, and so are we. The United States forms the summit of this imperialist pyramid, followed by Europe. For this reason, we must work together, and this made it all the greater a pleasure to watch the events yesterday, as they demonstrated Russia’s revival.

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May 10, 2015, The Kremlin, Moscow