Russian Foreign Minister to address Arab League on Sunday

Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, will address the Arab League on Sunday, the League said Thursday.

Lavrov’s visit to Cairo, the seat of the Arab League, comes after a summit held between the leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran in Tehran.

Lavrov will meet, in Cairo, the Arab League’s Secretary-General, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, and representatives of the 22 member States.

An official source in the League’s General Secretariat said the Russian top diplomat will address the League Council at the level of delegates.

During a summit held Tuesday in Tehran, the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, discussed with his Turkish counterparts, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian, Ibrahim Raisi, discussed the conflict in Syria and the war in Ukraine.

READ: West pressuring Arab states to condemn Russia’s operation in Ukraine

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine earlier this year, most Arab capitals, which depend on Russia to meet its domestic demand for grain, in addition to weapons, have maintained a balanced position between Russia and the United States, by refraining from declaring a position on the issue.

Lavrov’s visit to Cairo comes more than a week after the US President, Joe Biden, visited the Middle East for the first time since taking office, during which he visited Israel, the occupied Palestinian territories and Saudi Arabia, where he participated in the summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council six member States, in addition to Egypt, Jordan and Iraq.

Last Thursday, Biden signed, on the sidelines of his visit to Israel, a security document with Prime Minister, Yair Lapid, in which the United States pledged not to allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons.

During his visit to Jeddah, later on Saturday, Biden assured a number of Arab leaders that Washington would not leave a “vacuum that could be filled by China, Russia or Iran”.

Tehran has immediately accused Washington of inflaming regional tensions.