Colombia–Russia relations are the

bilateral Bilateral may refer to any concept including two sides, in particular: * Bilateria, bilateral animals *Bilateralism, the political and cultural relations between two states *Bilateral, occurring on both sides of an organism ( Anatomical terms of ...

and

foreign relations A state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterally or through mu ...

between

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. Diplomatic relations between Colombia and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

were established for the first time on June 25, 1935 (then severed on May 3, 1948, and restored back to normal on January 19, 1968). Colombia has an embassy in Moscow and Russia has an embassy in Bogotá.

Recent

On October 3, 2008, Colombia, considered one of the closest U.S. allies in Latin America, sent its defense minister to Russia for the first time to discuss signing a new military cooperation accord. Defense minister (and future president)

Juan Manuel Santos Juan Manuel Santos Calderón (; born 10 August 1951) is a Colombian politician who was the President of Colombia from 2010 to 2018. He was the sole recipient of the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize. An economist by profession and a journalist by trade, ...

arrived in Russia on Oct. 6 to attend an

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

police conference and meet with his Russian counterpart

Anatoly Serdyukov Anatoly Eduardovich Serdyukov (russian: Анатолий Эдуардович Сердюков; born 8 January 1962) is a Russian politician and businessman. He was Russia's Minister of Defense from 15 February 2007 to 6 November 2012, and made ...

, along with Colombia's Ambassador to Russia, Diego José Tobón Echeverri. Alquin "is the first Colombian defense minister to make an official visit to Russia, which is of major significance for relations between the two countries", the Colombian presidency said on its web site. Talks focused on cooperation in fighting the drugs trade, terrorism and a new defense accord, it said. Colombian Vice-President Francisco Santos said during a visit to Russia in June that his country wants to buy fighter and transport helicopters and radar systems as it broadens its sources of defense equipment. The defense minister will attend a demonstration of Russian weaponry during his week-long visit, the presidency in Bogota said. Colombia's efforts to court Russia came after it voiced concerns about billions of dollars in Russian arms sales to neighboring Venezuela, where President Hugo Chávez proclaimed a goal of countering U.S. influence in Latin America and was accused by Colombia of arming FARC rebels. On November 1, 2013, the

Colombian Air Force , "We are the Force" , colours = , colours_label = , march = Colombian Air Force Hymn , mascot = Capitan Paz , anniversaries = 8 November , ...

intercepted two

Tu-160 The Tupolev Tu-160 (russian: Туполев Ту-160 Белый лебедь, translit=Belyj Lebeď, translation= White Swan; NATO reporting name: Blackjack) is a supersonic, variable-sweep wing heavy strategic bomber designed by the Tupolev Des ...

s of the Russian Air Force that were flying over Colombian

airspace Airspace is the portion of the atmosphere controlled by a country above its territory, including its territorial waters or, more generally, any specific three-dimensional portion of the atmosphere. It is not the same as aerospace, which is the ...

without previous governmental clearance. The two blackjacks, as code named by the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

, were escorted out of Colombian airspace soon after and a note of protest was sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia to Moscow. In December 2020, Juan Francisco Espinosa, head of Colombia’s migration agency said that two Russian diplomats were expelled after being accused of trying to obtain military intelligence and information about the energy industry and mineral commodities. During the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

, Colombian president

Iván Duque Iván Duque Márquez (; born 1 August 1976) is a Colombian politician and lawyer who served as the president of Colombia from 2018 to 2022. He was elected as the candidate from the Democratic Centre Party in the 2018 Colombian presidential ...

affirmed his support for Ukraine during a phone call with Ukrainian president

Volodymyr Zelenskyy Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy, ; russian: Владимир Александрович Зеленский, Vladimir Aleksandrovich Zelenskyy, (born 25 January 1978; also transliterated as Zelensky or Zelenskiy) is a Ukrainian politicia ...

, condemning Russia's aggression by stating that, "Colombia has been firm with its voice condemning this opprobrium, it has done so in all multilateral instances and all diplomatic channels as the only NATO partner in Latin America and the Caribbean.“

References

External links

Colombian embassy in Moscow (in Spanish) Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affaires about relations with the Russian Federation (in Spanish)Russian embassy in Bogotá (in Spanish)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colombia-Russia relations Bilateral relations of Russia

Recent

See also

References

External links