Patrice Trovoada reacted to the statements by the Portuguese President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who, on Thursday, stated he was unaware of the military cooperation agreement signed between São Tomé and Príncipe and the Russian Federation, but that he would like to know the document.

"Honestly, how does he want to know? Does he want to ask me for the agreement? I am also very curious to know many things, but let's be clear: here there is respect for sovereignty and respect for diplomatic rules, therefore there are things that do not make sense", reacted Patrice Trovoada.

"If the agreement is published, he [the Portuguese President] will become aware of it like everyone else, therefore we are not at that stage and at the moment it is necessary for people to calm down", added the Prime Minister of São Tomé.

Patrice Trovoada also reacted to the statements by the Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Paulo Rangel, who stated, on Thursday, that Portugal and "other European States expressed surprise, apprehension and perplexity regarding this agreement".

"This is the problem of the Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs. We have bilateral relations with many countries and we do not need Portugal to relate to other countries, let's be clear, if a European country wants to express concern, it should talk to me, and they did not do that", said the Prime Minister of São Tomé.

Trovoada stressed that São Tomé and Príncipe is sovereign and relates "with everyone".

"I get along very well with many European countries, I do not need to go through Portugal to talk to Europe, if Europe also needs to talk to me it does not need to go through Portugal", he stressed.

Patrice Trovoada said that the São Toméan MFA expressed to its Portuguese counterpart "the need to not be concerned about this anymore" and stressed that he does not ask to see when Portugal signs agreements with third parties.

The Head of the São Toméan Government also emphasized that many countries, including European ones, continue to maintain relations with Russia, despite the war with Ukraine.

"When there were terrorist attacks in Russia recently, the United States even proposed supporting Russia. I would also like to recall that many European countries, despite the conflict situation with Ukraine, continue to import gas, oil and uranium from Russia, which in principle should serve to improve Russia's financial situation, which, by the way, should also serve Russia to continue the war with Ukraine", he said.

"So, we are a free, independent, sovereign country, we are adults and I think that on the side of the Portuguese Government there is no problem", he added.

Patrice Trovoada said that, on the São Toméan side, "things are clear, they are calm" and the agreement with Russia "is in force" and will be implemented.

"We are not going to make a big deal out of something simple and do not count on São Tomé and Príncipe to do so. We are a free and independent State, we cooperate with our friends, we are not ungrateful to our friends and, within this cooperation, within the international scenario, within the options we have made, there are some with whom we walk 10 meters, some 100 meters, there are some with whom we do not walk, depending on our interests, and others do the same thing depending on their interests", said Patrice Trovoada.

According to the official Russian news agency Sputnik, the military agreement "for an indefinite period" was signed in Saint Petersburg on 24 April and began to be implemented on 5 May, providing for training, use of weapons and military equipment and visits by Russian planes, warships and vessels to the archipelago.

Leia Também: "Portugal desempenhará papel para salvaguardar unidade da CPLP" (Portuguese version)