🎙 Opening remarks by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Timor-Leste Bendito Freitas (Moscow, October 6, 2026)

💬 Sergey Lavrov: Mr Minister,

Сolleagues,

We are sincerely pleased to welcome you to Moscow on the first official visit to Russia by a Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Timor-Leste in the history of our diplomatic relations.

This is undoubtedly a historic moment.

Today, we will have an opportunity to review the full scope of our relations, both bilateral cooperation and engagement on international issues, in the spirit of the fundamental agreements reached by President of Russia Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister of Timor-Leste Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao on the sidelines of the anniversary Russia-ASEAN Summit in Kazan this June.

☝️ We remember the early days of Timor-Leste’s statehood. Russia played an active role, primarily through the UN, in providing humanitarian and other assistance to your citizens. In the early 2000s, we deployed Russian police officers to the UN Mission of Support in East Timor. This was another contribution we made to building your country’s statehood.

We have a number of initial ideas on how to implement the fundamental agreements on developing our relations, and I hope we will discuss these in detail today.

🇷🇺🇹🇱 #RussiaTimorLeste