Russia Urges Restraint in Western Sahara After Morocco’s Military Operation

This discussion took place after S. Lavrov had spoken with the Moroccan Foreign Minister. To Boukadoum, his Algerian counterpart, S. Lavrov stressed "the importance for the parties involved to show restraint, observe the ceasefire and restore the negotiation process under the auspices of the United Nations in order to achieve a lasting settlement to this conflict...", specifies Russian diplomacy.

In the wake of the FAR operation in El Guerguerate, the press release states, Russia has called "on Morocco and the Polisario to show the greatest restraint, to refrain from taking measures likely to aggravate the situation and to strictly comply with the ceasefire agreement".

This Lavrov-Boukadoum telephone exchange, which is part of the balancing act that Moscow is accustomed to in the pragmatic management of international disputes, comes at a time when many influential countries on this issue are working to appoint a new personal envoy of the UN Secretary-General for the Western Sahara.

While it is known to all that Algeria is a major military-industrial customer for Russia, it is also true that Russian diplomacy, in the name of Realpolitik in its relations with Morocco, knows that it has tied itself to the kingdom through a strategic agreement, endorsed by the heads of state.