Русский
Russian President Vladimir Putin has met with the Barry Faure, the Seychelles Foreign Minister at the 2026 Russia-Africa Summit in Moscow.
They discussed the development of political, trade, economic, and humanitarian cooperation, as well as international and regional affairs.
Following the discussions, this is what Faure had to say. Our additional comments are prefixed RPA.
Faure: “The Seychelles intends to strengthen ties with Russia not only in tourism and trade, but also in the fight against climate change, ocean protection and the preservation of natural heritage. We intend to diversify our economy, with Russian tourists part of this. Our historical ties continue to influence our bilateral relations.
What we seek in summits like this, is that Seychelles’ national interests are represented in decisions and resolutions which are taken. And I’m happy to say that we see our interests properly reflected.
We have interests in environmental sustainability, biodiversity, ocean governance, climate action, trade, tourism and economic co-operation. We’ve seen all this properly reflected in our bilateral documents, and we are very happy that we have a Seychelles-Russia Action plan for 2027-2029.”
Russia-Africa Climate Resilience
“We’ve also made a very specific proposal that we have been working on since December last year with our Russian counterparts – the creation of a Russian-African mechanism for ensuring climate resilience. It will make it possible to draw on the knowledge and experience of Russia and African countries to combat the negative effects of climate change and, among other things, to mitigate the consequences of natural disasters. So we are happy with this summit.
In April 2026, the President of Seychelles, Dr Patrick Herminie held talks in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin. That was a very important and historic visit. It was the first time that a leader from Seychelles conducted a working visit to Russia. It gave us an opportunity to further advance our relations, which were established 50 years ago and it happened at the time when we were about to celebrate our 50th anniversary of our independence.”
Tourism
“One of our goals was to secure the resumption of Aeroflot flights to the Seychelles before the start of the 2026 summer season. Previously, the airline operated flights there only during certain seasons. And we managed to achieve this. As a result, we saw an increase in the number of Russian tourists. Moreover, despite the consequences of the war in the Middle East, which caused the overall number of tourists visiting the Seychelles to fall, the number of guests from Russia increased. We were also given guarantees that Aeroflot would continue operating flights throughout the year.”
RPA: The tourism industry is currently the focus of bilateral economic ties, with Russian nationals able to enter the Seychelles visa-free for up to 30 days. Russians now account for about 15% of tourist arrivals to the Seychelles, worth an estimated US$180 million in 2025 in revenues to the Seychelles economy. Following the Russia-Africa Summit meetings, Aeroflot have announced that it will increase its flight frequency between Seychelles and Russia to three times a week, operating on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Fisheries
Faure: “Another of our tasks was to ensure the possibility of exporting products from Seychellois fisheries to Russia, since we have substantial fish and other marine resources. This, too, was achieved. In fact, the first consignment of such products will arrive in Russia on Saturday (November 7). The Seychelles will be able to supply its fish products to Russia duty-free.”
RPA: Three Seychellois companies have been approved for supplying fish to Russia by Rosselkhoznadzor, the Russian agency for phytosanitary matters – Ocean Basket, Amirates Fisheries, and Fishtech. The consignment mentioned is fresh tuna, which is being flown directly to Moscow via Aeroflot.
Russian Embassy In The Seychelles
“I should note that we also agreed to open an Embassy of the Seychelles in Russia. I am pleased to announce that, if everything goes according to plan, it will begin operating in the first quarter of 2027.
Our relations with Russia and our bilateral co-operation continue to develop. We have excellent bilateral relations, which have historically been shaped since the times of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was one of the first countries to recognise the independence of the Seychelles, and today, Russia continues this line.”
Food Security
“As concerns food security, the priority of our country is to ensure that there is food security and energy supply. We are highly dependent on imports for practically everything: between 90-95% of what we consume is imported. We are therefore highly dependent on global supply chains and international delivery routes.
The war in the Middle East has affected us. We made considerable efforts both internally, using our own means, and externally with our partners, for us to build resilience, for us to build stocks. In fact, we ensured that we have a national system to respond to the impact of the war and to mitigate its repercussions on the population.
The first priority was to make sure that we have essential commodities. We began building up stocks for several months. The same applies to energy supply. We worked with partners to guarantee sufficient fuel supplies. They helped us by providing various goods – from medical supplies to food. We are very grateful to Russia for this assistance.”
Maritime Security
“We have a huge exclusive economic zone. The Seychelles is a small island developing state, the smallest country in Africa, with a population of around 120,000. Our land area is approximately 455 square kilometres. However, the area of our maritime spaces reaches almost 1.4 million square kilometres. So, our small country has to manage a vast area of maritime space.
We provide a platform for international co-operation – both with our closest neighbours and with more distant countries such as Russia, European Union states, the United States and China. We work closely with Mauritius, Madagascar, the Comoros and Réunion. We also interact with India, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Mozambique and other countries. Our task is to ensure the exchange of information and co-ordination of efforts to counter illegal activity at sea.
We not only benefit from such co-operation, but also contribute to the common effort ourselves. In particular, we host the Regional Centre for Operational Co-ordination, which brings together international and regional participants. Information is exchanged at the centre. In addition, we have our own coast guard vessels. Some of them we purchased ourselves, others we received as gifts from friendly countries, including India and China. We make these resources available to the entire region, because helping the region also helps us. Support from the international community also serves our interests.
Various types of illicit maritime activities take place in our maritime spaces. These include illegal fishing, as well as drug trafficking across vast ocean spaces. We also face human trafficking. Smuggling also occurs, including on islands belonging to us that have no permanent population but possess significant natural resources. All of this creates security threats.
It is therefore extremely important for us to exercise sovereign control over our maritime spaces. We can achieve this only through co-operation with our closest neighbours, regional partners and countries beyond our region.”
RPA: It should be noted that the Russian Navy’s Pacific Fleet frigate Marshal Shaposhnikov has docked at the port of Victoria in the Seychelles. The Pacific Fleet frigate Marshal Shaposhnikov arrived at Victoria Port in the Seychelles on November 2. Russian sailors were welcomed at the port by representatives of the Russian Embassy and the Seychelles Navy command. During the ship’s stay in the Seychelles, joint Russian-Seychelles naval anti-piracy drills will be held for the first time.
Education
Faure: “Our educational ties are also important. Russia was one of the first countries that came to Seychelles with programmes of collaboration in education, vocational training, and cultural and sports exchanges. More than 100 students from the Seychelles have studied at various Russian universities.
Our country’s Vice-President, Vincent Meriton, who held that post in 2016–2020, received his education in Moscow in sociology. He still plays a very important role in the life of the Seychelles today, since he heads the Seychelles-Russia Friendship Society.
There have been other similar examples. One of our country’s leading theatre directors trained at the Bolshoi Theatre. He plays an important role in developing the culture of the Seychelles, working on films and on the development of young Seychellois cinema.”
RPA: The director mentioned is John Poole Etienne, who has also been involved in organising the first ballet events in the Seychelles, introducing the local population to Tchaikovsky and other Russian cultural figures.
Faure: “All of this contributes to shaping national identity and developing our country’s culture, as well as strengthening relations, friendship and contacts between our peoples. All of this has also influenced the decisions we take as a state.”
RPA: Russia and the Seychelles maintain educational cooperation. Seychellois nationals can study in Russian universities based on a government-funded scholarship program. Russia also helps retrain Seychellois police officers and intelligence agents, while the Seychelles government has recently begun Russian language training classes for employees in the tourism sector.
Russia, Seychelles Bilateral Trade & Investment
Bilateral trade between Russia and the Seychelles is relatively small at about US$10 million, although given the recent duty-free agreement to provide seafood to Russia, this is likely to increase. The current trade mix includes Russian exports of mineral oils, machinery and equipment, while the Seychelles exports fish, seafood and spices.
The main component of bilateral trade is Seychelles inbound tourism from Russia, which given the upcoming tripling of weekly flight frequency is likely to have a significant impact. Opportunities for the Russian tourism sector in the Seychelles will also increase.
The Seychelles is also part of the Southern African Development Community, which signed a Cooperation Action Plan with Russia at the Russia-Africa Summit.
