Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa calls Vladimir Putin, to visit UAE to seek fuel imports

Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has been exploring options of buying oil from Russia and he is already in conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, a minister said according to PTI. Sri Lanka is currently experiencing a massive fuel shortage and a deal with Russia will be a huge boost for the island nation which is facing its worst economic crisis since gaining independence in 1948. Rajapaksa will be travelling to United Arab Emirates in the near future in order to discuss fuel imports and a possible understanding with Russia can be good news amidst the ongoing crisis.

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“President Gotabaya has called the Russian President to import fuel from Russia. He also plans to go on a tour to UAE to discuss with their leaders to import fuel,” Minister of state for power and energy Mahindananda Aluthgamage was quoted by the Sri Lankan news portal Economy Next.

Earlier in the week, Rajapaksa met Russian Ambassador to Sri Lanka Yuri Materiy to discuss the food and fuel shortage that has brought the country to a near standstill in the last few weeks.

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“Had a productive meeting with the Russian Ambassador Yuri Materiy yesterday. Maintaining robust bilateral relations between our two countries, whilst focusing on developing trading opportunities was discussed extensively at this meeting,” Rajapaksa tweeted on Tuesday.

The Sri Lankan government stopped all fuel sales in the country till July 10 and also extended the shutdown as the country fights their worst economic crisis. The schools are shut in the country while both public and private sector offices were instructed to operate with minimum staff.

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(With inputs from agencies)