The Senior Presidential Advisor for Special Operations Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba has thanked the Russian delegation that represented President Vladimir Putin at his Ugandan counterpart's swearing-in ceremony.
The swearing-in ceremony that attracted eleven presidents and hundreds of world leaders happened at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds on Wednesday.
Gen Kainerugaba who is also the commander of the Special Forces Command held a meeting with the Russian delegation Friday in which he thanked them for honouring President Museveni's swearing-in ceremony.
"Yesterday, it was my pleasure to meet different members of the Russian defence industry who had come to attend the swearing-in ceremony of President @KagutaMuseveni. I thank them for their visit," Gen Kainerugaba said in a tweet Saturday morning.
Reacting to Gen Kainerugaba's tweet, several Ugandans including the Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development Frank Tumwebazea appreciated Gen Kainerugaba for harnessing the cooperation on behalf of Uganda.
"In @RussiaGov, we have great allies & friends. Thanks, Gen @mkainerugaba for harnessing these strategic collaborations!"
Uganda and Russia enjoy cordial diplomatic relations in various fields including defence and security cooperation among others.
In 2019, President Museveni was among the African leaders who were invited for the first-ever Russia-Africa summit in the Russian Coastal city of Sochi.
Speaking at the sidelines of the summit, Gen Museveni hailed Russia for always supporting the development of Uganda in terms of defence and security and Africa at large.
“Russia and Uganda are cooperating very well in the areas of defence and security by buying good quality Russian equipment including aircraft,” Museveni said.
He told Putin that ties between the two countries started way back during Africa’s fight for independence when Russia and China supported Africans in their fight for freedom.
According to Museveni, the relationship has grown through the years and noted that the Russia- Africa summit was long overdue.
“It will strengthen trade and bilateral relations between Africa and Russia. We are working on building workshops for maintenance and overhaul of equipment we get from Russia, like the aircraft which will greatly reduce costs,” Gen Museveni said.
In response, President Putin told Museveni that he sees possibilities for cooperation between Russia and Uganda along the trajectories of construction and cybersecurity.
“We also see possibilities for cooperation in the field of construction, development of information technologies and cybersecurity, agriculture, medicine and pharmaceutics, telecommunications, operation and servicing of helicopters, as well as ecology,” H.E Putin said.