Russian Ambassador to Jamaica Sergey Petrovich says there is much more room for relations between his motherland and island states of the Caribbean to be discovered.

His comments come roughly a week after many Caribbean countries, including Jamaica, voted in favour of a nonbinding resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a military operation launched on February 24.

Of the 16 Caribbean countries that cast votes during the March 2 emergency general assembly of the United Nations (UN), only Cuba abstained from voting.

The other 15 countries—Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, St Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago—all voted ‘yes’ to the resolution, which also demanded that Moscow stop fighting and withdraw its military forces from Ukraine.

In total, the resolution was passed by an overwhelming majority of 141 votes in favour, five against and 35 in abstention.

The first-time ambassador admitted that Caribbean countries, including Jamaica, had a right to voice their disapproval of Russia’s actions.

In his response to a request for comment to Russia’s partners in Jamaica, Petrovich in an interview with Our Today at the Russian Embassy on Monday (March 14) said, “We are well aware of the position of the Jamaican Government on this crisis.”

“We know Jamaica supported this resolution at the UN General Assembly, which condemned Russia for this military operation. And, well, I had contact with a representative of the Jamaican Government [and] we discussed the current situation,” Petrovich contended.

The Jamaican ambassador, who boasts over 30 years of diplomatic experience in Europe, maintained that the relationship between Russia and the Caribbean is just in its infancy.

“I think that we are still yet to have discovered each other, Russia and the Caribbean region. One of my goals as an ambassador here is to contribute to further development of the bilateral relations of not only Russia and Jamaica but also Russia and the rest of the Caribbean world,” said Petrovich.

“Besides being bilateral ambassador to Jamaica, I am also ambassador to four more countries: St Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica and St Kitts and Nevis, and I would like to explore during my term of office how we can develop [deeper] relations,” the Russian envoy noted.

High on the ambassador’s agenda is dialogue with the regional political bloc, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), for which Russia considers Jamaica a ‘leader’ in this regard.

Petrovich did not illuminate, however, what form Russia’s approach to CARICOM would take.

“CARICOM is a big, regional group consisting of 15 member states and it’s not a secret that Jamaica is a political leader of this organisation. During recent years, CARICOM tries more often to speak with one voice on many international issues, in particular. So the CARICOM states try to coordinate their position in the United Nations, for example,” he told Our Today.

Current Russia-Caribbean relations: