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Sao Tome’s prime minister warned his executive this Friday that Portugal does not need to communicate with Europe and that Portuguese officials will only know if a military agreement with Russia is published.
Patrice Trovoada responded to the statements of Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who said on Thursday that he does not know about the military cooperation agreement signed between São Tomé and Príncipe and the Russian Federation, but he wants to know it. Document.
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“Honestly, how does he want to know? Does he want to ask me for a contract? I am also interested in many things, but let’s be clear: here there is respect for sovereignty and respect for diplomatic rules, so there are things that don’t make sense,” answered Patrice Trovoda.
“If the contract is published, it is [o Presidente português] He will find out like everyone else, so we are not at that stage, people really need to be calm at this time,” said the Prime Minister of Sao Tome.
On Thursday, Patrice Trovoada responded to reports by Portuguese Foreign Minister (MNE), Paulo Rangel, that Portugal and “other European countries have expressed strangeness, fear and confusion over this agreement”.
“This is the problem of the Portuguese Foreign Minister. We have bilateral relations with many countries We don’t need Portugal to communicate with other countries“If a European country wants to express concern, talk to me, they’re not doing it,” the Sao Tome prime minister said.
Trovoda emphasized that São Tomé and Príncipe are sovereign and interact with “everyone.”
“I get along well with many European countries, I don’t need to go through Portugal to talk to Europe, and if Europe wants to talk to me, it doesn’t need to go through Portugal,” he insisted.
Patrice Trovoada insisted that the Sao Tome MNE had informed its Portuguese representative that “there is no need to worry about this any more” and had not asked when Portugal would sign agreements with third parties.
The head of government of Sao Tome emphasized that many countries, including European countries, will continue to maintain relations with Russia even after the war with Ukraine.
“During the recent terrorist attacks in Russia, in To Russia to continue”, he declared.
“So, we are a free, independent, sovereign country, we are adults and I think there is no problem on the part of the Portuguese government,” he said.
On the Sao Tome side, Patrice Trovoada said that “things are clear, they are calm” and that the deal with Russia is “in progress” and will be implemented.
Sao Tome says it is sovereign and no one dictates how it should interact with Russia
“You’re not going to do something simple on a large scale, don’t count on São Tomé and Príncipe to do it. We are a free and independent state, we cooperate with our friends, we are not ungrateful to our friends, within this cooperation, within the international situation, within the choices we have made, we are 10 meters We walk 100 meters, there are some we don’t walk depending on our interest, others do the same depending on their interests”, said Patrice Trovoda.
According to the official Russian news agency Sputnik, the military agreement “for an indefinite period” was signed in St. Petersburg on April 24 and began to be implemented on May 5, including training, the use of weapons and military equipment and air visits, Russian warships and ships to the archipelago.
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