Russia Diverted Diplomats to Africa From Europe, Lavrov Says

Russia bolstered its diplomatic presence in Africa by diverting envoys from Europe after being forced to downsize its presence there, according to Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

“We have drastically reduced our presence in Europe and the UK by about 120-150 employees,” Lavrov told Russian lawmakers on Wednesday. “And 90% of these redundant employees have been redeployed to African destinations, where we’re reopening about a dozen embassies in total.”