Russia–Sri Lanka relations (russian: Российско-ланкийские отношения, si, රුසියා-ශ්‍රී ලංකා සබඳතා, ta, ரஷ்யா-இலங்கை உறவுகள்) 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 l ...

relations between

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

and Sri Lanka.

Background

Rajapaksa and Medvedev at St Petersburg Economic Forum

Soviet-era relations

The

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

established diplomatic relations with Sri Lanka on December 3–6, 1956. In 1958, the

USSR 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 nationa ...

and Sri Lanka signed an agreement on economic and technical cooperation. In 1967, they built a steel mill (production capacity - 50,000 tons of stock per year), a

tire A tire (American English) or tyre (British English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide traction on the surface over which t ...

plant, and a

construction materials This is a list of building materials. Many types of building materials are used in the construction industry to create buildings and structures. These categories of materials and products are used by architects and construction project managers ...

plant near

Colombo Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...

all with the assistance of the Soviet Union.

Russian Federation relations

Political ties

In the UN, Russia has supported Sri Lanka in nearly every resolution brought forward against them. The most notable one was during the final stages of Sri Lanka's civil war in 2009 when European nations along with Canada and Mexico brought a ceasefire bill against the Sri Lanka Army. However, China and Russia vetoed that bill. Later on, another war crime bill that was tabled by Western nations against the Government of Sri Lanka was once again vetoed by Russia and China, along with several other nations. Sri Lanka reacted in favor of Russia during the Ukrainian crisis, and said that the concerns of Russia were justifiable. In 2022, Sri Lanka abstained from both Resolution ES-11/1 and Resolution ES-11/4 UN votes on Russia.

Military ties

Russia helped Sri Lanka to obtain Russian based weapons from several countries throughout the past 30 years. Examples of this would be Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-27, Mil Mi-17 used by Sri Lanka Air Force and

T-54/55 The T-54 and T-55 tanks are a series of Soviet main battle tanks introduced in the years following the Second World War. The first T-54 prototype was completed at Nizhny Tagil by the end of 1945.Steven Zaloga, T-54 and T-55 Main Battle Tanks ...

battle tanks,

BTR-80 The BTR-80 (russian: бронетранспортёр, bronyetransportyor, literally "armoured transporter") is an 8×8 wheeled amphibious armoured personnel carrier (APC) designed in the USSR. It was adopted in 1985 and replaced the previous ...

APC used by

Sri Lanka Army ta, இலங்கை இராணுவம் , image = File:Sri Lanka Army Logo.png , image_size = 180px , caption = Emblem of the Sri Lanka Army , start_date ...

. In 2017, Sri Lanka ordered

Gepard-class frigate The Russian Gepard-class frigates, Russian designation Project 11661, is a class of frigates that were intended as successors to the earlier s and , and corvettes. The first unit of the class, ''Yastreb'' (''Hawk''), was laid down at the Zelen ...

worth US$158.5 million for the

Sri Lanka Navy ta, இலங்கை கடற்படை , image = Sri Lanka Naval Seal.png , image_size = 180px , caption = Emblem of Sri Lanka Navy , dates = , c ...

Economic ties

Sri Lanka and

have recently ramped up cooperation on expanding the

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of ''Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and north ...

trade between the two nations. Currently, approximately 17 percent of Sri Lanka's tea

exports An export in international trade is a good produced in one country that is sold into another country or a service provided in one country for a national or resident of another country. The seller of such goods or the service provider is an ...

go to Russia. Sri Lankan teas account for 30% of Russia's tea market. In 2016, there were 58,176 Russian tourist arrived in Sri Lanka. This number is gradually increasing in recent years. In December 2017 Russia imposed a temporary restriction on the imports of agriculture products from Sri Lanka including

Ceylon tea Ceylon tea is both the brand of tea which is produced in Sri Lanka and a historic term describing tea from that land. Ceylon tea has been described as not only a geographical descriptor but also a pillar of Sri Lankan culture, heritage and ident ...

after an insect called the Khapra beetle was found in a consignment of tea. Later, however, it was revealed that the beetle is neither native to, nor lives in, Sri Lanka. Russia accounts for nearly 19 percent of Sri Lanka's $1.27 billion tea exports. After discussion with official delegation from the Sri Lanka Tea Board, Russia agreed to lift the restrictions from Dec 30. Sri Lanka also lifted a ban on asbestos, mainly imported from Russia. It was suspected Russia was not happy with the pro-Western policy of the UNP led

Sri Lankan Government The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය, Śrī Lankā Rajaya; ta, இலங்கை அரசாங்கம்) is a parliamentary system determined by the Sri Lankan Constitution. It administers the isl ...

References

External links

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Sri Lanka Renews 51 Year Old Diplomatic Relationship with Russia
*
Documents on the Russia – Sri Lanka relationship at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Sri Lanka president met his Russian counterpart Dimitry Medvedev and Chinese President Hu Jintao

Sri Lanka – A Rajapaksa Factor

Sri Lanka President warmly welcomed in Russia

Rajapaksa visits Russia to bolster ties

Russian envoy calls for stronger SL-Russia ties

Diplomatic missions

*
Embassy of Russia in Colombo
*
Embassy of Sri Lanka in Moscow
{{DEFAULTSORT:Russia-Sri Lanka relations Sri Lanka Bilateral relations of Sri Lanka