Source: 10 January 2023, NTS Sevastopol

Citing an announcement by Eritrean Ambassador to Russia Petros Tseggai, state media outlet RIA Novosti reports that the Red Sea port city of Massawa has signed a memorandum of understanding with [Black Sea naval base] Sevastopol.  

According to Tseggai, an official exchange of delegations is already planned as the two countries seek to develop closer ties.  The ambassador likewise noted that he visited Crimea and Sevastopol during the Soviet era and that the peninsula has seen only positive change since returning to Russian control [in 2014].  

Eritrea is an East African nation with an agricultural based economy and a growing industrial mining sector. Its capital Asmara enjoys a reputation among tourists as being the safest on the African continent.

The RIA Novosti report cited in the above video:

Source: 8 January 2023, RIA Novosti)

Massawa and Sevastopol Sign Agreement of Cooperation

Eritrean Ambassador to Russia Petros Tseggai:  Port city Massawa and Sevastopol have signed a memorandum of understanding

MOSCOW, 8 JAN- RIA Novosti

In an interview [today] with RIA Novosti, Eritrean Ambassador to Russia Petros Tseggai announced that the Eritrean Red Sea port city of Massawa and Sevastopol have signed a memorandum of understanding. In addition, an official exchange of delegations is scheduled.

“We have signed a memorandum of understanding between the ports of Massawa and Sevastopol,” Ambassador Tseggai said. “I would like to see something come out of this collaboration.”

He noted that an official exchange of delegations is already planned as the two countries seek to develop closer ties.

“People in our country have yet to fully appreciate the promise of such a partnership,” the Eritrean diplomat added. “We will have an official exchange of delegations and this will develop.”

Ambassador Tseggai said that he visited Crimea during the Soviet era when he was a student in Odessa, and that Sevastopol made an impression on him at that time.

“I visited Alushta as a student. Now it (Crimea) has improved a lot. During the Soviet era it wasn’t bad either. I was in Sevastopol, which I'm told was completely destroyed during the Second World War. Both (British Prime Minister Winston) Churchill and others said it wouldn’t be rebuilt even in 70 years,” noted the ambassador.