Russia plans to open new consulates general in the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Evgeniy Ivanov said on Wednesday.
The Russian foreign ministry has outlined steps to strengthen the country’s consular presence in regions with large Russian diasporas, as well as those popular with tourists, Ivanov said.
"In particular, we are currently working on the issue of opening Russian consulates in Grodno [Belarus], Aktau [Kazakhstan], Samarkand [Uzbekistan], Male [Maldives] and Denpasar [Bali, Indonesia]," Sputnik cited Ivanov as saying.
In mid-October, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia sees no reason to maintain its current diplomatic presence in Western countries, with more attention needed to be paid to countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa. The minister noted that Moscow is shifting its geographical focus from the West to the countries that are "willing to cooperate with Russia on mutually beneficial and equal terms."
