Dhaka, Feb 23 (PTI) Bangladesh on Thursday said that its decision to block the docking of Russian ships under US sanction was unlikely to affect the existing “friendly” ties with Russia as it is a “tested and long-term friend” of Moscow.
In recent months, Bangladesh has disallowed some Russian ships to anchor at its ports as they came under western sanctions against Russia as a fallout of the Ukraine war.
Following this, Russia summoned Bangladesh’s ambassador to Moscow to protest Dhaka’s decision to block the entry of Russian ships under Western sanctions.
Bangladesh on Thursday reacted to the diplomatic row and said that “Our (Dhaka-Moscow) understanding is so good that we don’t think a single issue will adversely impact the existing bilateral and friendly relations,” a foreign office spokesperson told a media briefing here.
Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson Seheli Sabrin termed Russia as Bangladesh’s “tested and long-term friend”, recalling Moscow’s invaluable support during its 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan.
She particularly recalled repeated Russian vetoes for ceasefire proposals in the Security Council at the fag-end of the Liberation War, the acceptance of which could have jeopardised Bangladesh’s independence.
The official Bangladesh reaction came two days after Russia summoned its ambassador in Moscow Kamrul Ahsan over Dhaka’s decision to block entry of Russian ships under western sanctions.
Sabrin said the matter related to the Russian ship was a six-week-old issue but the Bangladesh envoy was called to the Russian foreign ministry this week.
Asked why Bangladesh banned the US-sanctioned Russian ship at its ports, she said that Bangladesh preferred to maintain good relations with all the nations as “we are a trade-dependent country”.
She said, not only Bangladesh, the sanctioned Russian ship was banned from calling ports of other countries as well.
Earlier on Wednesday the foreign ministry said it has sought a detailed report from its ambassador in Moscow to know what exactly was discussed with the Russian foreign ministry as he was called there.
“Our ambassador sent his report, and now the foreign ministry here is analysing it,” the spokesperson said, adding that after examining the report more information regarding the meeting would be disclosed.
On February 21, Russia’s foreign ministry in a statement said it has told the Bangladeshi envoy that the move to ban its ship was not in line with “traditionally friendly bilateral relations and may adversely affect the prospects for cooperation in various fields”.
“This step runs counter to the traditionally friendly character of bilateral relations and can have a negative effect on the prospects for our cooperation in various spheres,” the Russian foreign office said.
Sabrin said Russian deputy foreign minister Rudenko Andrey Yurevich requested Dhaka to take the historical and friendly bilateral ties into consideration before taking any decision as he spoke with the Bangladesh envoy.
“He (Russian junior minister) also requested the Bangladesh envoy to convey the Russian concern regarding the issue to the high-ups in Dhaka,” she added.
Sabrin said that the Bangladesh ambassador explained the backdrop of Dhaka’s decision to ban 69 Russian ships under western sanctions.
According to the spokesperson, the ambassador also conveyed Yurevich Dhaka’s concerns regarding the current economic downfall due to the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Ahead of summoning the Bangladesh ambassador, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told media in Moscow that Bangladesh banned the Russian ship under a threat of US secondary sanctions.
“We know that this unfriendly step was taken by the county’s authorities, not on their own initiative. It was made under threat of secondary sanctions of the US,” Russia’s state-run TASS news agency quoted him as saying.
In January, Dhaka informed Moscow that they could send any ship, except the sanctioned ones, to Bangladesh’s ports.
Bangladesh’s Mercantile Marine Office in a notice earlier said in line with the foreign ministry advice it banned entry into Bangladeshi ports of 69 Russian vessels which were placed under sanction by the US. PTI AR AMS AKJ AMS
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