Russian Deputy Energy Minister to visit Sri Lanka this week

A Russian delegation led by the country's Deputy Energy Minister Roman Marshavin is set to visit Sri Lanka from March 26 to 28. 

The visit comes in the backdrop of a push by the Sri Lankan government to secure fuel for the country amid the conflict in West Asia, which has sent oil prices soaring to over USD 100 a barrel and has also forced the government to revert to distributing fuel via QR code. 

Foreign Ministry officials and the Russian Embassy had been holding talks in recent days regarding the possibility of securing energy supplies from Russia after the U.S. relaxed some sanctions on Russian oil. 

The Russian Embassy in Colombo had issued a clarification on March 18 stating that in light of the circulation of various speculative reports regarding the meeting between the Russian Ambassador L.Dzhagaryan and senior officials from Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs concerning energy supplies, the Embassy is authorized to state that no financial or logistical questions were discussed during the talks. The Embassy is working on these issues, the statement added.