U.S. warns Mnangagwa against close ties with Russia

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The United States reportedly wrote to President Emmerson Mnangagwa asking him to end Harare’s close ties with the Russian government.

Mnangagwa is said to have told this to the visiting Russian Federation Council (senate) speaker Valentina Matvienko during a meeting in Harare Thursday.

Russian news agency TASS said Mnangagwa told Matvienko that the US sent a letter urging him to end close economic and technical military relations with Moscow.

Mnangagwa is said to have “sent an adequate response” saying relations between Russia and Zimbabwe were long and mutually beneficial.

Speaking to reporters in Harare after her meeting with Mnangagwa, Matvienko said despite Western sanctions, Russia is ready to stick to its commitments to “supply food to other countries and do everything to avert hunger”.

She added that if Zimbabwe was to request for food or fertiliser, Russia would devise “delivery mechanisms and provide Zimbabwe with the necessary amount of food.”

Western powers imposed sanctions on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine on 24 February this year.

Analysts say the punitive measures will likely trigger a global food crisis since Russia, a chief supplier is cut from the outside world.