MOSCOW, November 13. /TASS/. Moscow will open embassies in an array of countries of the African continent, with Equatorial Guinea and Sierra Leone among them, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, who also serves as special presidential envoy for the Middle East and Africa, told TASS in an interview following the First Ministerial Conference Russia-Africa.

"Embassies [will be opened], of course. An embassy in Burkina Faso was just opened. An embassy in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, is about to be opened," he said, adding that there is also "a list of countries where [embassies] have been closed." "Moreover, [Russian Foreign Minister] Sergey V. Lavrov has said that Sierra Leone is next in line, in Freetown," Bogdanov added.

In some African states, such as South Sudan, for example, the Russian side reached an agreement at some point to open an embassy, though "it has not been done for a variety of reasons," he noted. "Now I hope that it is also planned, to open [an embassy] in Juba, South Sudan," the official said.