Lavrov tells Marada chief that Russia wants to help Lebanon 'cope' with distracting problems

BEIRUT — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Saturday that his country wants to help Lebanon “cope with problems distracting it from constructive goals.” Russian state News Agency TASS reported the remarks after Lavrov and his aides met with Marada party head Sleiman Frangieh in Moscow.

Here’s what we know:

•  “We sincerely wish to help our Lebanese friends cope with the problems that have for years distracted you from … developing your country and from strengthening its security,” Lavrov said. The foreign minister added that his country has “pressed to preserve the principles on which Lebanon’s statehood relied,” stressing the “important role of Lebanon’s Marada movement in establishing Lebanon’s current statehood.”

•  Progressive Socialist Party head Walid Joumblatt went on an official visit to Russia in January, during which Lavrov insisted that legislative elections must take place on schedule.

•  Moscow and its Lebanese clients criticized Lebanon’s condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Recently, Lebanon abstained from the UN General Assembly vote to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council.

•  While in Moscow Frangieh and numerous Marada party members also met with deputy foreign affairs minister Mikhail Bogdanov. The Marada leader has been considered a potential candidate in October’s Lebanese presidential election, alongside FPM head Gebran Bassil. The two met on April 8 during an iftar hosted by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.