“We believe that Sri Lanka will continue to pursue the neutral foreign policy it has followed thus far,” says Russian Ambassador to Sri Lanka Levan S. Dzhagaryan.

Jun 12, 2026 at 11:43 AM

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Lanka Leader

The Embassy of the Russian Federation in Colombo hosted a reception at the Rathnadeepa Hotel, Galle Face, to commemorate Russia Day, which falls on June 12. The event was attended by a large number of distinguished local and foreign guests.

The Chief Guest at the ceremony was U. Pannilage, Minister of Rural Development, Social Welfare and Community Rights.

While welcoming the guests, Russian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Levan S. Dzhagaryan, expressed his gratitude for the balanced foreign policy maintained by the Government of Sri Lanka. He also stated that he hopes Sri Lanka will continue to uphold this balanced approach in the future.

The Ambassador’s full speech is reproduced below...

"The fact that despite these difficult times, we aren't in isolation. We have many friends, many friends not only in the countries of Global South, but also in European countries among people in the many other countries of the world. And we highly appreciate it.

So, you know, we are with a difficult situation as this special military operation continues. Unfortunately, Ukrainian regime continues to—to just undertake terrorist attacks. Before entering this hall, you saw these photos of 25 Russians, young boys and girls, who were bloodily killed during terrorist attack of the Ukrainian armed forces against hostile civilian people. We have already found out those criminals who have committed this act, and we will punish them. The punishment is inevitable.

At the same time, Russia is ready for missions, but as you know well, our demands are very clear and was said by President Putin. It's not necessary to repeat once again. Once again, we are ready to reach our objects, our goals, as a result of negotiations based on our demands. If not, there's another option: we will continue special military operation and we will receive—reach our objectives on the battlefield.

And today, the situation for the Ukrainian regime is much worse rather than it was yesterday. Tomorrow it will be worse than today. So, they should start as soon as possible negotiations, otherwise tomorrow it will be worse.

From the European allies, from time to time, we hear such slogans that 'we will stand with Ukraine as long as possible, as long as it's necessary.' We have already heard such slogans just many years ago regarding Afghanistan, when some countries, some Western countries, supported this puppet regime of Ashraf Ghani in Afghanistan. I know it, taking my Afghan background. 'As long as—as long as it's necessary.' But what happened in August 2021? Finally, they were defeated and Taliban movement kicked them out of Afghanistan. The same will happen with the Ukrainian regime.

Yes, I would like to use this opportunity to express my gratitude to the government of Sri Lanka for its balanced stance. We highly appreciate it. Hope this balance state will continue.

Next year, Russia and Sri Lanka will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. Our traditional friendly ties are successfully developing. This year, we have experienced an intensive bilateral exchange of delegations. The Deputy Minister of Energy of Russia, Mr Roman Marshavin came recently at the request of Sri Lankan government. We had negotiations. Russia is ready to help to supply oil to your country, and our just proposals are on the table. And we are ready also.

Also,we had consultations—political consultations—on the level of deputy foreign ministers recently. And during the consultations, our side coordinated their positions on a wide range of bilateral and international issues and confirmed that our approaches are the same, or they're very close.

In May The Minister of Health of Russia, Mikhail Murashko , visited Sri Lanka at the invitation of Sri Lankan counterpart, honorable Mr. Nalinda Jayatissa, Minister of Health of Sri Lanka. Traditionally, our countries have one of the strongest ties in the healthcare. A lot of doctors here in Sri Lanka have achieved higher education in my country, and we are very proud of that.

Also, this year, honorable Mr. Bimal Rathnayake, the Minister of Transport, Highways and Mass Media of Sri Lanka, he twice visited Russian Federation—St. Petersburg and Kazan city. And Mr.  Sampath Thuyacontha , Secretary of Defense, visited Moscow recently and had very fruitful and very useful negotiations. We are very happy to see this very intensive dialogue between two our countries.

Russia values the Ceylon tea as one of the major imported from Sri Lanka, holding the third place in the Ceylon tea import. My opinion, the best brand of Sri Lankan tea is Basilur. Let me repeat it once again, the best—this is my personal opinion, you will taste it very soon—the best tea is Basilur.

The Russian government has doubled the number of state-funded scholarship for Sri Lanka citizens in the current year. It was before 50, now it's 100.

The Russian language continues to expand its geography throughout the island and reached Galle, Kandy, Ratnapura, Bandarawela Center for International Studies, and National Institute of Language Education.

And in May, we hosted a major Russian film festival, bringing contemporary Russian cinema to Sri Lanka audience for the first time since the historic Soviet film festival in 1963—long ago.

The Russian School of Ballet, you are witnessing right now, we hope it, in the Russian Cultural Center, is celebrating the 21st anniversary this June, and we are very proud of that.

I'm confident that traditionally and friendly Russian-Sri Lankan relations will further develop in various spheres for the benefit of our people. I wish Sri Lanka prosperity and all citizens health, success, and well-being. Lovely friendship between the Russian Federation and Sri Lanka."