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Rabat – The Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry highlighted that Algerian news outlet Echourouk Online has published purposeful “disinformation” regarding alleged tensions between Morocco and Russia.
“A Fuse has ignited between Morocco and Russia to the extent that the Russian ambassador to Morocco left to his country, while Algeria is mentioned as one of the reasons behind the worsening crisis,” Echourouk Online wrote in its article, which was published on October 18.
The news outlet said that bilateral tensions erupted following Morocco’s decision to suspend direct flights to and from Russia due to COVID-19 measures.
Echourouk Online also cited Russia’s decision to postpone the 6th Arab-Russian Forum , which was scheduled to take place at the end of this month in Morocco’s Marrakech. At the time the postponement was announced, a Russian statement highlighted that the rescheduling was due to scheduling difficulties with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
In response to the claims, the Russian Foreign Ministry published a lengthy article, denying tension between Rabat and Moscow.
“There is no doubt that the newspaper can claim a prize in two categories at the same time: as a classic model of disinformation and for false analysis,” the foreign ministry wrote.
Read also: Morocco-Russia Intensify Relations as Strategic Interests Converge
The Russian foreign ministry established that the information about the “extremely tense Russia-Morocco relations is divorced from reality and exists only in the author’s imagination.”
“It is an open secret that many countries, including external players, are very disappointed by Moscow’s growing ties with Algeria, Mali, Morocco and other regional countries,” the foreign ministry added.
The Russian departement said that some sources are using different means, “including disinformation, to drive a wedge into our bilateral relations and damage them.”
Prior to the foreign ministry’s official statement, both Russia and Morocco denied the unfounded information on alleged tensions.
The two countries announced the news during a meeting between Mikhail Boganov, Russia’s special representative for the Middle East and African countries, and Lotfi Bouachaara, Morocco’s ambassador to Moscow
Read also: Morocco Aims to Expand Centuries of Positive Relations With Russia
Bogdanov and Bouachra said that the two officials “expressed their astonishment” at the “unfounded” information on an alleged tension between Moscow and Rabat.
The two officials noted the importance and mutual benefits of the Russian-Moroccan cooperation, emphasizing that it is “developing dynamically.”
Both emphasized that the potential postponement of the Arab-Russian event is in line with the efforts to determine mutually acceptable dates for the conference by the end of the year, taking into account the COVID-19 pandemic.
The disinformation published in Echourouk is likely a reaction to the increasingly warm ties between Russia and Morocco. Russia is a traditional ally of Algeria, yet has recently made significant efforts to strengthen ties with Rabat. Diplomats representing Russia and Morocco have made an unprecedented number of diplomatic visits in the past year, likely leading to fears in Algeria that it could lose its valued ally.
