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Vladimir Putin congratulates William Ruto


The President of Russia Vladimir Putin has congratulated Dr William Ruto on his election victory. In a statement shared by the Russian Embassy in Nairobi, President Putin expressed hope that the President-elect will ensure that the two countries strengthen their diplomatic ties.

“The Embassy of the Russian Federation has the honour to congratulate His Excellency Dr William Ruto upon his announcement of him being elected as the President of Kenya,” the statement reads in part.

“The Embassy of Russia is looking forward to continuing and further developing comprehensive and mutually beneficial cooperation with Kenya,” the statement further read.

The current Russian Ambassador to Kenya, Dmitry Maksimychev, has been on the forefront of strengthening their diplomatic ties of the two countries.

Read: Biggest ‘winners’ of Ruto presidency

In April, the Russian Ambassador told the Kenyan media saying that Russia had not in any way invaded Ukraine but termed it as a limited special military operation.

“There is a very limited contingent of Russian troops. They are independent and we are not exploiting them,” Maksimychev said back then.

This was after Kenya, through the United Nations (UN) Permanent Representative Martin Kimani, while chairing a UN security Council meeting, condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying it was likely to rekindle dangerous expansions by “dead” empires.

Other Kenyan government officials who also took issues with Russia then include Ms Kanze Dena who is the State House Spokesperson and Mr Cyrus Oguna the Government Spokesperson who both blamed the invasion of Ukraine for the spike in fuel prices on the global market.

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