ZIMBABWE plans to continue its defence and security cooperation with Russia, but needs to build up funds to buy \u201cstate-of-the-art\u201d Russian weapons, President Emmerson Mnangagwa told news agency Sputnik on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have always had cooperation in\u00a0the field of\u00a0defence and security with\u00a0Russia,\u201d said Mnangagwa who is in Moscow on a three-day state visit.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis we are not abandoning \u2026 Yes, at\u00a0the moment we don\u2019t have much economic muscle to\u00a0buy the things which we would want to\u00a0buy from\u00a0the Russian Federation, but\u00a0down the line, as\u00a0Zimbabwe becomes stronger in\u00a0terms of\u00a0its economic muscle, we should be able to\u00a0buy the type of\u00a0hardware, which we know the Russian Federation has and is the state-of-the-art type of\u00a0equipment that they have, but\u00a0we are not in\u00a0a hurry.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would want initially, we don\u2019t think we [should] concentrate on\u00a0hardware. We should concentrate on\u00a0manpower training in\u00a0the area of\u00a0the army\u201d, Mnangagwa said.<\/p>\n
The Zimbabwean president is currently on\u00a0his first official visit to\u00a0Moscow and met with\u00a0Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
In the interview with Sputnik Mnangagwa also touched on\u00a0the depreciation of\u00a0Zimbabwe\u2019s national currency, saying that it is a direct result of\u00a0restrictive measures imposed on\u00a0the country by\u00a0the European Union and the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am sure you are aware that as\u00a0a result of\u00a0the sanctions imposed on\u00a0us, those sanctions were able to\u00a0collapse our own currency\u201d, he stated.<\/p>\n
Since the 2000s, Zimbabwe has been under\u00a0sanctions imposed by\u00a0the United States and the European Union over\u00a0violations of\u00a0human rights and democratic norms under\u00a0the presidency of\u00a0former leader Robert Mugabe.<\/p>\n
The restrictions had resulted in\u00a0a collapse of\u00a0foreign loans and investments in\u00a0the economy of\u00a0the African nation. The prolonged economic crisis in\u00a0the country caused the country\u2019s authorities to\u00a0use the US dollar instead of\u00a0its national currency.<\/p>\n
Fuel Prices Hike<\/strong><\/p>\n Mnangagwa also addressed the protests back home which had begun on\u00a0Monday after\u00a0the government doubled fuel prices.<\/p>\n \u201cI understand this that there were some protests happening yesterday (Monday), but\u00a0they are almost fizzling out\u00a0and there is no country which has no challenging problems. These come and pass\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n The president added that Zimbabwe had the cheapest fuel in\u00a0the world before\u00a0prices were raised.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have the cheapest fuel in\u00a0the world. Until three days ago our fuel was $0.60, now\u2026 we are selling our fuel at $3.31 bond notes. But we have designated service stations for\u00a0our diplomats and so on\u00a0who want to\u00a0pay in\u00a0US dollars, and it will cost them $1.32 in\u00a0US dollars\u201d, Mnangagwa said.<\/p>\n Over the weekend, the prices of\u00a0fuel were more than\u00a0doubled, which provoked nationwide protests in\u00a0cities in the main cities of Harare and Bulawayo on\u00a0Monday.<\/p>\n Police confronted demonstrators in\u00a0the streets, and according to\u00a0media reports, used tear gas on\u00a0them. Several people were reportedly killed during\u00a0the protests.<\/p>\n ZIMBABWE plans to continue its defence and security cooperation with Russia, but needs to build up funds to buy \u201cstate-of-the-art\u201d Russian weapons, President Emmerson Mnangagwa told news agency Sputnik on Tuesday. \u201cWe have always had cooperation in\u00a0the field of\u00a0defence and security with\u00a0Russia,\u201d said Mnangagwa who is in Moscow on a three-day state visit. \u201cThis we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":1870,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,12],"tags":[277,320,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-1863","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-head-lines","9":"category-policy","10":"tag-mnangawa","11":"tag-relations","12":"tag-zimbawe"},"yoast_head":"\n