"The hybrid war unleashed by the global West against Russia has destructively influenced the entire complex of Russia's relations with Portugal. And why? Because of the hostile position taken by Portugal since the beginning of the special military operation. Lisbon immediately aligned itself with the anti-Russian policy and rhetoric. As a result, Portuguese-Russian relations are experiencing the deepest crisis in their entire history," said the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, in response to a question from the Lusa agency asked by videoconference.

The director of the Press Department of the ministry supervised by Sergey Lavrov indicated that "it was the Portuguese side that froze all political contacts and reduced economic relations to very limited trade exchanges".

"By decision of the Assembly of the Republic of Portugal, the Portuguese-Russian parliamentary friendship group was dissolved. Inter-regional collaboration was also terminated. On 20 January this year, the Lisbon Municipal Assembly voted to end the protocol on friendship and cooperation with Moscow, which had been in force since 1997," she also pointed out.

She added that in Portugal there is "an anti-Russian campaign underway, fueled at the official level", with the Portuguese authorities reducing "contacts with the Russian Embassy in Lisbon to a minimum".

"Our ambassador was practically imposed, both by the Portuguese authorities and by his foreign counterparts, a regime of isolation," she criticized.

"It is not very clear what this is for, since there are issues that can and should be resolved together, which is made difficult by illegitimate and Russophobic positions, I do not know if from Lisbon or imposed from outside, for example, by NATO, the European Union (EU), the United States or by the anti-Russian 'lobby' itself that operates in Portugal," accused the spokesperson.

In the same statements, Maria Zakharova stressed that the "collapse of diplomatic relations" between Lisbon and Moscow is not Russia's choice and that "it does not correspond, in any way, to the interests of the Portuguese people", hoping that "sooner or later, Portugal will recover the rational analysis of the facts that occur in the modern world".

Russia remains "open to building good relations with foreign partners", including those it calls "unfriendly regimes", said Maria Zakharova.

Questioned by Lusa about Russian relations with the countries of the African continent, Maria Zakharova said that Moscow is working to strengthen ties "in the areas of foreign policy and humanitarian aid".

"We work, both on the African continent and in others, not to deepen our influence, but to deepen cooperation," she stressed, recalling that "there are many agreements reached both at the Russian-African summits and within the framework of permanent working contacts".

Zakharova recalled the recent visit to Moscow by the President of Guinea-Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, at the time of the Victory Day commemorations, last week, and indicated that a ministerial meeting is scheduled for November in Sochi, in which she expects African Portuguese-speaking countries to participate.

"The Russian-African summits are not a response to the sanctions decreed by the West against our country. We simply have proposals for African countries. This is how the format of the Russian-African summits was born. Russia proposes an honest and equal partnership in rights, without politicization or pressure, without interference in the internal affairs of other countries. We helped many African countries to free themselves from the colonial yoke. These are known facts and it is in this framework that we promote our relations," she argued.

The Russian military offensive on Ukrainian territory, launched on 24 February 2022, plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).

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