Russia eyes Zimbabwe’s diamonds

HARARE: Russia´s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday met with Zimbabwe´s new President Emmerson Mnangagwa and discussed possible military co-operation as well as plans to boost economic ties. Lavrov, who is on a tour of Africa, is the first high-profile Russian official to visit Zimbabwe since veteran ruler Robert Mugabe´s resignation in November last year.

"We talked about the tasks that we have to pursue in order to develop these trade and economic ties between our countries," Lavrov told journalists after meeting Mnangagwa at his office in the capital Harare.

"We emphasised the implementation of the joint project of exploring the Darwendale platinum deposits," he said. The project is one of the largest of its kind in the world and is run by a Zimbabwean-Russian joint venture.