ALGIERS – Thursday, 23 March 2023 (APS) – President of the Republic Abdelmadjid Tebboune affirmed Wednesday that Algeria is empowered to play a mediation role between Russia and Ukraine.
In his reply to a question, during an interview granted Al-Jazeera Channel, on the possibility for Algeria to play a mediation role between Russia and Ukraine, President Tebboune said that “it is empowered to do it, as it is among the countries with sufficient credibility to be mediator in several conflicts, even those not concerning the African continent.”
“We did it several times given the Algerian diplomacy’s weight. We have always had results. Algeria never gets involved in a mediation unless it guarantees a result,” he stressed.
Concerning the request made to Algeria by the Europeans Union (EU) High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell to serve as a mediator in the Ukrainian crisis, President Tebboune replied “We hope the two parties to the conflict accept the mediation. We have already made an attempt at the head of an Arab delegation chaired by the Arab League but it was, unfortunately, unsuccessful.”
In his response to a question on whether the relations between Algeria and Russia disturb the United States of America, the head of State said “we try to explain to them that our belonging is neither military nor an ideological bias. We are a neutral State and we consider ourselves as friends of the United States. The non-alignement is our policy. We deal with Moscow and Washington. The largest oil companies in Algeria are American and there is no problem.”
The relations between Algeria and Russia are “good,” he said, adding that he will pay a visit to Moscow in May 2023, at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Poutine.